TY - JOUR
T1 - Self-Sampled Gargle Water Direct RT-LAMP as a Screening Method for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Infections
AU - Arbaciauskaite, Skaiste
AU - Babakhani, Pouya
AU - Sandetskaya, Natalia
AU - Vitkus, Dalius
AU - Jancoriene, Ligita
AU - Karosiene, Dovile
AU - Karciauskaite, Dovile
AU - Zablockiene, Birute
AU - Kuhlmeier, Dirk
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: S.A., N.S. and D.K. (Dirk Kuhlmeier) were supported by the Fraunhofer society project AHEAD. D.V., D.K. (Dovile Karciauskaite), D.K. (Dovile Karosiene), L.J. and B.Z. were funded by Vilnius University Hospital.
PY - 2022/3/22
Y1 - 2022/3/22
N2 - We assessed the viability of self-sampled gargle water direct RT-LAMP (LAMP) for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infections by estimating its sensitivity with respect to the gold standard indirect RT-PCR of paired oro-nasopharyngeal swab samples. We also assessed the impact of symptom onset to test time (STT)—i.e., symptom days at sampling, on LAMP. In addition, we appraised the viability of gargle water self-sampling versus oro-nasopharyngeal swab sampling, by comparing paired indirect RT-PCR results. 202 oro-nasopharyngeal swab and paired self-sampled gargle water samples were collected from hospital patients with COVID-19 associated symptoms. LAMP, indirect and direct RT-PCR were performed on all gargle water samples, and indirect RT-PCR was performed on all oro-nasopharyngeal samples. LAMP presented a sensitivity of 80.8% (95% CI: 70.8–90.8%) for sample pairs with sub-25 Ct oro-nasopharyngeal indirect RT-PCR results, and 77.6% (66.2–89.1%) sensitivity for sub-30 Ct samples with STT ≤ 7 days. STT, independently of Ct value, correlated negatively with LAMP performance. 80.7% agreement was observed between gargle water and oro-nasopharyngeal indirect RT-PCR results. In conclusion, LAMP presents an acceptable sensitivity for low Ct and low STT samples. Gargle water may be considered as a viable sampling method, and LAMP as a screening method, especially for symptomatic persons with low STT values.
AB - We assessed the viability of self-sampled gargle water direct RT-LAMP (LAMP) for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infections by estimating its sensitivity with respect to the gold standard indirect RT-PCR of paired oro-nasopharyngeal swab samples. We also assessed the impact of symptom onset to test time (STT)—i.e., symptom days at sampling, on LAMP. In addition, we appraised the viability of gargle water self-sampling versus oro-nasopharyngeal swab sampling, by comparing paired indirect RT-PCR results. 202 oro-nasopharyngeal swab and paired self-sampled gargle water samples were collected from hospital patients with COVID-19 associated symptoms. LAMP, indirect and direct RT-PCR were performed on all gargle water samples, and indirect RT-PCR was performed on all oro-nasopharyngeal samples. LAMP presented a sensitivity of 80.8% (95% CI: 70.8–90.8%) for sample pairs with sub-25 Ct oro-nasopharyngeal indirect RT-PCR results, and 77.6% (66.2–89.1%) sensitivity for sub-30 Ct samples with STT ≤ 7 days. STT, independently of Ct value, correlated negatively with LAMP performance. 80.7% agreement was observed between gargle water and oro-nasopharyngeal indirect RT-PCR results. In conclusion, LAMP presents an acceptable sensitivity for low Ct and low STT samples. Gargle water may be considered as a viable sampling method, and LAMP as a screening method, especially for symptomatic persons with low STT values.
KW - COVID-19
KW - direct RT-LAMP
KW - gargle water
KW - LAMP
KW - loop-mediated isothermal amplification
KW - RT-PCR
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - self-sampling
KW - viral diseases
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127536992&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/diagnostics12040775
DO - 10.3390/diagnostics12040775
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85127536992
VL - 12
JO - Diagnostics
JF - Diagnostics
SN - 2075-4418
IS - 4
M1 - 775
ER -