Department of Pathology Area Laboratories, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany.
Med J (Ft Sam Houst Tex). 2021 Jan-Mar(PB 8-21-01/02/03):8-11.
The recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has led to a global pandemic of unprecedented proportions. Current diagnosis of COVID-19 relies on the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in upper and lower respiratory specimens. While sensitive and specific, these RT-PCR assays require considerable supplies and reagents, which are often limited during global pandemics and surge testing. Here, we show that a nasopharyngeal swab pooling strategy can detect a single positive sample in pools of up to 10 samples without sacrificing RT-PCR sensitivity and specificity. We also report that this pooling strategy can be applied to rapid, moderate complexity assays, such as the BioFire COVID-19 test. Implementing a pooling strategy can significantly increase laboratory testing capacity while simultaneously reducing turnaround times for rapid identification and isolation of positive COVID-19 cases in high risk populations.
最近出现的严重急性呼吸系统综合征冠状病毒 2 型（SARS-CoV-2）导致了一场前所未有的全球大流行。目前，COVID-19 的诊断依赖于对上呼吸道和下呼吸道样本进行逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测 SARS-CoV-2 RNA。虽然这些 RT-PCR 检测方法具有较高的灵敏度和特异性，但需要大量的供应品和试剂，而在全球大流行和激增检测期间，这些供应品和试剂往往有限。在这里，我们证明了鼻咽拭子混合策略可以在不牺牲 RT-PCR 灵敏度和特异性的情况下，在最多 10 个样本的混合样本中检测到单个阳性样本。我们还报告称，这种混合策略可应用于快速、中等复杂程度的检测方法，如生物梅里埃公司的 COVID-19 检测。实施混合策略可以显著提高实验室检测能力，同时缩短高危人群中 COVID-19 阳性病例的快速识别和隔离的周转时间。
