Department of Blood Transfusion, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, P.R. China.
Department of Medical Laboratory, Wuhan University, Wuhan, P.R. China.
Clin Chem Lab Med. 2020 Jun 25;58(7):1089-1094. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2020-0187.
Objectives In December 2019, a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)-infected pneumonia (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, China. Laboratory-based diagnostic tests utilized real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on throat samples. This study evaluated the diagnostic value to analyzing throat and sputum samples in order to improve accuracy and detection efficiency. Methods Paired specimens of throat swabs and sputum were obtained from 54 cases, and RNA was extracted and tested for 2019-nCoV (equated with SARS-CoV-2) by the RT-PCR assay. Results The positive rates of 2019-nCoV from sputum specimens and throat swabs were 76.9% and 44.2%, respectively. Sputum specimens showed a significantly higher positive rate than throat swabs in detecting viral nucleic acid using the RT-PCR assay (p = 0.001). Conclusions The detection rates of 2019-nCoV from sputum specimens were significantly higher than those from throat swabs. We suggest that sputum would benefit for the detection of 2019-nCoV in patients who produce sputum. The results can facilitate the selection of specimens and increase the accuracy of diagnosis.
目的
2019 年 12 月，中国武汉发生了新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）感染的肺炎（COVID-19）。基于实验室的诊断检测利用实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）对咽喉样本进行检测。本研究旨在评估分析咽喉和痰液样本的诊断价值，以提高检测的准确性和效率。
方法
收集了 54 例患者的咽拭子和痰液配对样本，提取 RNA，通过 RT-PCR 检测 2019-nCoV（等同于 SARS-CoV-2）。
结果
痰液标本和咽拭子标本中 2019-nCoV 的阳性率分别为 76.9%和 44.2%。与 RT-PCR 检测病毒核酸相比，痰液标本的阳性率明显高于咽拭子（p=0.001）。
结论
痰液标本中 2019-nCoV 的检出率明显高于咽拭子。建议对于产生痰液的患者，痰液有利于检测 2019-nCoV。研究结果有助于选择标本，提高诊断的准确性。
