title: Development and evaluation of a flocked nasal midturbinate swab for self-collection in respiratory virus infection diagnostic testing.
abstract: We developed and evaluated flocked nasal midturbinate swabs obtained from 55 asymptomatic and 108 symptomatic volunteers. Self-collected swabs obtained from asymptomatic volunteers yielded numbers of respiratory epithelial cells comparable to those of staff-collected nasal (n = 55) or nasopharyngeal (n = 20) swabs. Specific viruses were detected in swabs self-collected by 42/108 (38.9%) symptomatic volunteers by multiplex PCR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. smiejam@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smieja
authors.forename: Santina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Castriciano
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carruthers
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: So
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Luinstra
authors.forename: James B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Mahony
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petrich
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chernesky
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Savarese
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Triva
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006805:Human Experimentation; D006801:Humans; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D014780:Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification*