SALT LAKE CITY – More than 615,800 Utahns know what it feels like to test for COVID-19.
They know it is somewhat invasive, in which a long pennant inserts the nose and reaches to the back of the throat, where it remains for several potentially uncomfortable seconds.
But it does not have to be that way.
Researchers from the ARUP Laboratories of Utah and University of Utah Health have found that collecting saliva samples results in the same, if not more detection of the disease, said Dr. Kimberly Hanson, a doctor of infection for disease at the U and section head of clinical microbiology at ARUP.
“It’s easier to collect and appears to be safer for the supplier,” she said, adding that having a patient spray saliva into a tube requires less personal protective equipment and is less likely to produce the aerosols believed to transmit the new coronavirus. .
The study, representing one of the largest prospective comparisons of the sample type to date, is published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Other studies, including from the Yale School of Public Health, have reached similar conclusions, but with significantly fewer patients and specimens.
For her study, Hanson said she recruited 368 volunteer patients who visited the end of the Redwood Clinic’s COVID-19 test site for a COVID-19 test from late May to June. In addition to the nasopharyngeal swab test, which is successful in detecting respiratory diseases (including COVID-19), patients were asked to inject into a small plastic tube, which provided enough to test at ARUP laboratories. They also tested another method with swabs on the front of the patient’s nostrils, which was not as effective.
A few dozen patients were invited to participate, for whatever reason not producing enough saliva, Hanson said, but for most people, it was a completely viable test.
The tube was then placed in a plastic bag and returned to the health care worker in “a simple and quick procedure,” said Drs. Julio Delgado, Chief Medical Officer at ARUP. He said the health care worker could essentially stand 6 feet away from the patient as behind a plexiglass window to collect the sample.
SARS-CoV-2 was detected in at least two exam types for 90% of patients who tested positive for the virus.
Of the 350 who tested with both tests, the nasopharyngeal test detected 80 positive infections, while saliva 81. Both tests detected all infections, Hanson said. The nostril lashes missed almost 15% of infections, according to the study.
“We know no test is perfect,” Hanson said, adding that the virus was not always detected by both tests.
ARUP runs between 1,500 and 1,800 of COVID-19 specimens collected daily in Utah, varying from day to day, said Dr. Richard Orlandi, chief medical officer for outpatient health at the University of Utah Health. It is about a quarter of the total number of tests submitted to laboratories in Utah on a daily basis in the state.
“It’s going to be a real game changer for how we test suspected COVID-19 patients in Utah,” said Kathy Wilets, director of public relations at the University of Utah Health.
Hanson said patients can expect results from a speech test within 24 to 48 hours, which is similar to the nasopharyngeal swab commonly used for COVID-19 testing throughout Utah. But, she said, for severely compromised patients, results can be achieved as quickly as eight to 10 hours.
Orlandi said he expects the option for quests to be available to patients no later than mid-September, but hopefully sooner.
“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, ARUP has been working to build capacity for high quality COVID-19 testing,” said Delgado. “Our goal is to make these tests available nationwide to hospitals and healthcare systems.”
