Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 15, 2020

Saliva Is Less Sensitive than Nasopharyngeal Swabs for COVID-19 Detection in the Community Setting

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  • Saliva-based testing, compared to nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS), was found to be 15% less sensitive in a community-based diagnostic setting (N=88) and 50% less sensitive in a convalescent cohort (>8 and <21 days from first symptoms; N=24).  
  • In the community-based diagnostic setting, saliva samples were randomized to two collection tube types (OM-505 and OGD-610) with different proprietary nucleic acid stabilization solutions, and testing was completed at Helix, a high-complexity CLIA laboratory. NPS samples were tested using the CDC COVID-19 assay at the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory.  
  • In the convalescent cohort, previously-diagnosed patients were recalled for paired NPS and saliva collection, using the OG-610 kit; both tests were conducted at Helix.  

Becker et al. (May 15, 2020). Saliva Is Less Sensitive than Nasopharyngeal Swabs for COVID-19 Detection in the Community Setting. Pre-print downloaded May 15 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.11.20092338