Division of Microbiology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Nova Scotia Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
J Med Microbiol. 2022 Jun;71(6). doi: 10.1099/jmm.0.001545.
The world has experienced several waves of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VoCs) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic since the first cases in December 2019. The Omicron VoC has increased transmission, compared to its predecessors, and can present with sore throat and other cold-like symptoms. Given the predominance of throat symptoms, and previous work demonstrating better sensitivity using antigen-based rapid detection tests when a throat swab is included in the standard nasal sampling, this quality improvement project sought to ensure ongoing suitability of both combined oropharyngeal/nares (OPN) and nasopharyngeal (NP) swab sampling used throughout the pandemic. Consenting participants meeting Public Health testing criteria (mostly symptomatic or a close contact of a known case) were enrolled, and paired NP and OPN swabs were subjected to nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT). Comparing paired specimens from 392 participants sensitivity of NP swabs was 89.1 % (95 % CI, 78.8-94.9), and that of OPN was 98.4 % (95 % CI: 90.9->99.9) (-value 0.052). This project demonstrated that both NP and combined OPN swabs detected the Omicron variant with similar sensitivity by NAAT, supporting the continued use of either swab collection for SARS-CoV-2 molecular detection.
自 2019 年 12 月首次出现病例以来，在整个 COVID-19 大流行期间，世界已经经历了几波 SARS-CoV-2 变体（VOCs）。与之前的变体相比，Omicron VOC 的传播能力有所增强，并且可能出现喉咙痛和其他类似感冒的症状。鉴于喉咙症状的普遍性，以及之前的工作表明，当在标准鼻采样中包括喉咙拭子时，抗原为基础的快速检测试验具有更好的敏感性，因此，这项质量改进项目旨在确保在整个大流行期间持续使用联合鼻咽/口咽（OPN）和鼻咽（NP）拭子采样的适用性。同意参加公共卫生检测标准（主要是症状或已知病例的密切接触者）的参与者被招募，并对 NP 和 OPN 拭子进行核酸扩增检测（NAAT）。对 392 名参与者的配对 NP 和 OPN 标本进行比较，NP 拭子的敏感性为 89.1%（95%CI，78.8-94.9），OPN 拭子的敏感性为 98.4%（95%CI：90.9->99.9）（-值为 0.052）。该项目表明，无论是 NP 拭子还是联合 OPN 拭子，通过 NAAT 检测 Omicron 变体的敏感性相似，支持继续使用任何一种拭子采集进行 SARS-CoV-2 分子检测。
