April 29, 2021

A Comparison of Less Invasive SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Specimens in Nursing Home Residents — Arkansas, June–August 2020

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): congregate settings, testing

• In a comparison study of longitudinally collected samples for SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing among nursing home residents within 15 days of their first positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCRS result (n=17), saliva swabs (SA) and oropharyngeal swabs (OR) were PCR-positive for up to 48 days. Anterior nasal swabs (AN) were only positive for up to 33 days, but had the highest percentage of PCR-positive results (81%, 21/26) when collected within 10 days. Out of 11 samples that had viable virus by viral culture, 9 were AN samples collected within 19 days and 2 were OP samples collected within 5 days.

Gable et al. (Apr 28, 2021). A Comparison of Less Invasive SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Specimens in Nursing Home Residents — Arkansas, June–August 2020. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab310