Saliva is an attractive sample for coronavirus disease 2019 testing due its ease of collection and amenability to detect viral RNA with minimal processing. Using a direct-to-RT-PCR method with saliva self-collected from confirmed COVID-19 positive volunteers, we observed 32% false negative results. Confirmed negative and healthy volunteer samples spiked with 10 6 genome copies/mL of heat-inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 showed false negative results of 10% and 13%, respectively. Additional sample heating or dilution of the false negative samples conferred only modest improvements. These results highlight the potential to significantly underdiagnose COVID-19 infections when testing directly from minimally processed heterogeneous saliva samples.
【저자키워드】 viral infection, Bioanalytical chemistry, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, Saliva, coronavirus, Genome, COVID-19 infection, Viral RNA, volunteers, Dilution, acute respiratory syndrome, Improvements, heterogeneous, positive, false negative results, heat-inactivated, negative sample, highlight, detect, significantly, healthy, false negative result, processed, Confirmed, 【제목키워드】 Saliva, SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR, investigation, processed,