Saliva tests for COVID-19 eyed

TESTED AND TESTED Healthcare workers perform swab testing in Quezon City. (Photo by GRIG MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) is investigating whether saliva-based testing can be an “acceptable and feasible” method for detecting new coronavirus infections.

Undersecretary of Health María Rosario Vergeire said studies are still underway to determine whether the country could complement its current testing efforts by using saliva testing for COVID-19.

Vergeire said the Tropical Medicine Research Institute (RITM) was conducting the studies.

This unfolded as 3,637 additional COVID-19 cases were recorded on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases to 213,131.

Of the new cases presented by 102 out of 110 accredited laboratories, 3,063 became infected between August 16 and 29, while 416 became ill between August 1 and 15.

Metro Manila registered the highest number of new cases with 2,030, followed by Laguna (217), Rizal (155), Cavite (142) and Batangas (113). There are currently a total of 74,611 active cases, of which 91.3 percent are mild, 6.7 percent asymptomatic, 0.8 percent severe, and 1.1 percent critical.

The total number of recoveries increased to 135,101 after 655 more patients recovered.

The death toll, however, rose to 3,419 when 94 patients succumbed to the severe respiratory illness.

Of the recently reported deaths, 81 died this month, 12 in July and one in June. Fifty-four of the deaths were from Metro Manila, 16 from Calabarzon, 14 from central Luzon, four from western Visayas, three from Zamboanga and one from central Visayas. A Filipino returning abroad and another patient from a yet-to-be-determined location also died of COVID-19.

Saliva-based tests will involve collecting samples from a patient’s saliva.

Currently, samples are collected using nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs, which are “really inconvenient for a person” since a toothpick is inserted through a person’s nose or throat.

Vergeire pointed out that sample collection would be much easier for saliva-based tests, as the healthcare worker only needed to rub a sponge on the sides of the patient’s mouth.

However, the downside is that current studies on this collection method show that samples obtained from patients may be contaminated.

“Some articles say that there are always food particles that contaminate the sample. Second, to get accurate results, you need to collect many [of saliva]. So you have to properly rub the sides of a person’s mouth to get enough performance, ”Vergeire said.

“As soon as RITM gets the initial results, we will share it with everyone because it is something worth pursuing if it could really help and we see that it is acceptable and feasible for our testing strategy,” he added.

In the United States, your Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued an emergency authorization to the Yale School of Public Health to use the SalivaDirect test kit, which did not require a separate nucleic acid extraction step.

“This is significant because the extraction kits used for this step in other tests have been prone to shortages in the past. Being able to conduct a test without these kits improves the ability to perform further tests, while reducing pressure on available resources, ”the US FDA said in a statement.

“Since the saliva sample is collected by itself under the observation of a healthcare professional, it could also potentially reduce the risk it poses to healthcare workers responsible for sample collection,” he added.

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