Department of Molecular Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Thorax. 2021 Jan;76(1):86-88. doi: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-215705. Epub 2020 Oct 23.
False negatives from nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) using reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) in SARS-CoV-2 are high. Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) contains lower respiratory droplets that may improve detection. We performed EBC RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 genes (E, S, N, ORF1ab) on NPS-positive (n=16) and NPS-negative/clinically positive COVID-19 patients (n=15) using two commercial assays. EBC detected SARS-CoV-2 in 93.5% (29/31) using the four genes. Pre-SARS-CoV-2 era controls (n=14) were negative. EBC was positive in NPS negative/clinically positive patients in 66.6% (10/15) using the identical E and S (E/S) gene assay used for NPS, 73.3% (11/15) using the N/ORF1ab assay and 14/15 (93.3%) combined.
鼻咽拭子（NPS）的逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测 SARS-CoV-2 会出现大量假阴性。呼出气冷凝液（EBC）中含有下呼吸道飞沫，可能会提高检测的准确率。我们对 NPS 阳性（n=16）和 NPS 阴性/临床阳性 COVID-19 患者（n=15）使用两种商业检测试剂盒，对 EBC 中的 SARS-CoV-2 基因（E、S、N、ORF1ab）进行 RT-PCR 检测。使用这四个基因，EBC 检测到 93.5%（29/31）的 SARS-CoV-2 呈阳性。前 SARS-CoV-2 时代的对照（n=14）均为阴性。使用与 NPS 相同的 E 和 S（E/S）基因检测试剂盒，EBC 在 NPS 阴性/临床阳性患者中阳性率为 66.6%（10/15），使用 N/ORF1ab 检测试剂盒阳性率为 73.3%（11/15），联合检测阳性率为 100%（15/15）。
