1. Dry Swabs and Dried Saliva as Alternative Samples for SARS-CoV-2 Detection in Remote Areas in Lao PDR.
- Author
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Sibounheuang, Bountoy, Boutthasavong, Latsaniphone, Chommanam, Danoy, Phommasone, Koukeo, Panapruksachat, Siribun, Praphasiri, Viladeth, Bouttavong, Sengvong, Sisavath, Hongkham, Christy, Nathaniel C V, Letizia, Andrew G, Mayxay, Mayfong, Vongsouvath, Manivanh, Ashley, Elizabeth A, and Dubot-Pérès, Audrey
- Subjects
RESOURCE-limited settings ,SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant ,SARS-CoV-2 ,FILTER paper ,RAPID tooling - Abstract
Background Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 circulation is mainly based on real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, which requires laboratory facilities and cold chain for sample transportation. This is difficult to achieve in remote rural areas of resource-limited settings. The use of dried blood spots shipped at room temperature has shown good efficiency for the detection of arboviral RNA. Using a similar approach, we conducted a study at 3 provincial hospitals in Laos to compare the detection of SARS-CoV-2 from neat and dried spot samples. Methods Between January 2022 and March 2023, patients with respiratory symptoms were recruited. Nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs in virus transport medium (VTM), dry swabs, saliva, and dried saliva spotted on filter paper were collected. All samples were tested by SARS-CoV-2 real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. Results In total, 479 participants were included. The VTM samples tested positive for 288 (60.1%). High positive percent agreements were observed for dry swab (84.8%; 95% CI, 80.2%–88.8%) and saliva (89.2%; 95% CI, 85.1%–92.6%) as compared with VTM. There was a loss of sensitivity when saliva was dried on filter paper (73.6%; 95% CI, 68.1%–78.6%) as compared with saliva. SARS-CoV-2 variant (Delta or Omicron) had no significant impact on the performance of the different sample types. Conclusions Our findings suggest that dry swabs could be a good alternative for sample collection and permit easy shipping at ambient temperature for subsequent viral SARS-CoV-2 RNA purification and molecular investigation. This is a useful tool to consider for a rapid implementation of large-scale surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in remote areas, which could be extrapolated to other respiratory targets during routine surveillance or in the case of a novel emerging pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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