Development and evaluation of a flocked nasal midturbinate swab for self-collection in respiratory virus infection diagnostic testing.
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.
Smieja
Marek
M
Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. smiejam@mcmaster.ca
Castriciano
Santina
S
Carruthers
Susan
S
So
Geoffrey
G
Chong
Sylvia
S
Luinstra
Kathy
K
Mahony
James B
JB
Petrich
Astrid
A
Chernesky
Max
M
Savarese
Mario
M
Triva
Daniele
D
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*