Renal Research Institute, New York, NY, United States.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.
Front Public Health. 2023 Sep 18;11:1237512. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1237512. eCollection 2023.
Exhaled SARS-CoV-2 can be detected on face masks. We compared tests for SARS-CoV-2 RNA on worn face masks and matched saliva samples.
We conducted this prospective, observational, case-control study between December 2021 and March 2022. comprised 30 in-center hemodialysis patients with recent COVID-19 diagnosis. comprised 13 hemodialysis patients and 25 clinic staff without COVID-19 during the study period and the past 2 months. Disposable 3-layer masks were collected after being worn for 4 hours together with concurrent saliva samples. ThermoFisher COVID-19 Combo Kit (A47814) was used for RT-PCR testing.
Mask and saliva testing specificities were 99% and 100%, respectively. Test sensitivity was 62% for masks, and 81% for saliva ( = 0.16). Median viral RNA shedding duration was 11 days and longer in immunocompromised versus non-immunocompromised patients (22 vs. 11 days, = 0.06, log-rank test).
While SARS-CoV-2 testing on worn masks appears to be less sensitive compared to saliva, it may be a preferred screening method for individuals who are mandated to wear masks yet averse to more invasive sampling. However, optimized RNA extraction methods and automated procedures are warranted to increase test sensitivity and scalability. We corroborated longer viral RNA shedding in immunocompromised patients.
呼出的 SARS-CoV-2 可在口罩上检测到。我们比较了 worn 口罩和匹配的唾液样本中 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 的检测。
我们在 2021 年 12 月至 2022 年 3 月期间进行了这项前瞻性、观察性、病例对照研究。组包括 30 名最近 COVID-19 诊断的中心血液透析患者。对照组包括 13 名血液透析患者和 25 名在研究期间和过去 2 个月内没有 COVID-19 的诊所工作人员。在佩戴口罩 4 小时后收集一次性 3 层口罩，并同时采集唾液样本。使用 ThermoFisher COVID-19 Combo Kit（A47814）进行 RT-PCR 检测。
口罩和唾液检测的特异性分别为 99%和 100%。口罩检测的敏感性为 62%，唾液检测的敏感性为 81%（ = 0.16）。中位病毒 RNA 脱落持续时间为 11 天，免疫功能低下患者比非免疫功能低下患者更长（22 天比 11 天， = 0.06，对数秩检验）。
与唾液相比，佩戴口罩的 SARS-CoV-2 检测的敏感性似乎较低，但对于需要佩戴口罩但不愿进行更具侵入性采样的人来说，它可能是一种首选的筛查方法。然而，需要优化 RNA 提取方法和自动化程序，以提高测试的敏感性和可扩展性。我们证实免疫功能低下患者的病毒 RNA 脱落时间更长。
