Comparing Nasopharyngeal and Midturbinate Nasal Swab Testing for the Identification of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2
Swetha Pinninti, Connie Trieu, Sunil Pati, Misty Latting, Joshua Cooper, Maria C. Seleme, Sushma Boppana, Nitin Arora, William J. Britt, Suresh B. Boppana
Abstract
Testing of paired midturbinate (MT) nasal and nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs, collected by trained personnel from 40 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), showed that more NP (76/95 [80%]) than MT swabs tested positive (61/95 [64%]) (P = .02). Among samples collected a week after study enrollment, fewer MT than NP samples were positive (45% vs 76%; P = .001).
Topics & Concepts
MedicineCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)CoronavirusSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Internal medicine2019-20 coronavirus outbreakRespiratory systemVirologyDiseaseInfectious disease (medical specialty)OutbreakSARS-CoV-2 detection and testingSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchRespiratory viral infections research