Saliva molecular testing for SARS-CoV-2: simplifying the diagnosis without losing accuracy

The possibility to rely on rapid and accurate diagnostic techniques has proved itself crucial during the past year to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection [1]. Even if quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) on nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) is still considered the standard for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnosis, saliva has been evaluated in several studies as a possible alternative to NPS and is currently extensively utilised in South Korea, Germany and Japan [2, 3]. Nonetheless, the use of saliva is still debated, and a rigorous standardisation of the analysis protocol is greatly needed [4–6]. The application of point-of-care technologies on saliva, able to rapidly perform highly specific and sensitive molecular testing, could prove invaluable to allow the diagnosis also in challenging and remote settings by simplifying and speeding up the diagnostic process [1].
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Original Articles: Research letters Source Type: research