Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology
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SARS-CoV-2 testing demand has outpaced its supply. Pooling samples for lower risk populations has the potential to accommodate increased demand for SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing. ⋯ We report that 1:4 pooling of samples is specific and associated with an expected 2 CT loss in analytical sensitivity. Instead of running each sample individually, pooling of four samples will allow for a greater throughput and conserve scarce reagents.
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Observational Study
SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, serum inflammatory biomarkers and clinical severity of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The involvement of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in mediating immunopathogenetic events in COVID-19 patients has been suggested. By using several experimental approaches, we investigated the potential association between SARS-CoV-2 IgGs recognizing the spike (S) protein receptor-binding domain (RBD), neutralizing antibodies (NtAb) targeting S, and COVID-19 severity. ⋯ The data presented herein do not support an association between SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgG or NtAb50 levels and COVID-19 severity.
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Xpert® Xpress SARS-CoV-2 assay is only validated on nasopharyngeal specimens for detection of SARS-CoV-2. Other specimen types such as deep throat saliva (DTS), also known as posterior oropharyngeal saliva and lower-respiratorytract specimens (LRT) including sputum, tracheal aspirate and bronchoalveolar lavage are not validated. These non-validated specimen types, however, do have significant diagnostic value. ⋯ This study demonstrated with appropriate sample pre-treatment, Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 assay can be used to test on non-validated specimen types including DTS & LRT specimens.