A comparison of health care worker-collected foam and polyester nasal swabs in convalescent COVID-19 patients

Brian Hart; Yuan-Po Tu; Rachel Jennings; Prateek Verma; Leah R Padgett; Douglas Rains; Deneen Vojta; Ethan M Berke

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241100

A comparison of health care worker-collected foam and polyester nasal swabs in convalescent COVID-19 patients

PLoS One. 2020 Oct 27;15(10):e0241100. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241100. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Brian Hart¹, Yuan-Po Tu², Rachel Jennings³, Prateek Verma¹, Leah R Padgett⁴, Douglas Rains⁴, Deneen Vojta¹, Ethan M Berke¹

Affiliations

¹ Research and Development, UnitedHealth Group, Minnetonka, MN, United States of America.
² The Everett Clinic, Everett, WA, United States of America.
³ Applied Research Associates, Albuquerque, NM, United States of America.
⁴ Quantigen Biosciences, Fishers, IN, United States of America.

Abstract

Both polyester and foam nasal swabs were collected from convalescent COVID-19 patients at a single visit and stored in viral transport media (VTM), saline or dry. Sensitivity of each swab material and media combination were estimated, three by three tables were constructed to measure polyester and foam concordance, and cycle threshold (Ct) values were compared. 126 visits had polyester and foam swabs stored in viral transport media (VTM), 51 had swabs stored in saline, and 63 had a foam swab in VTM and a polyester swab stored in a dry tube. Polyester and foam swabs had an estimated sensitivity of 87.3% and 94.5% respectively in VTM, 87.5% and 93.8% respectively in saline, and 75.0% and 90.6% respectively for dry polyester and foam VTM. Polyester and foam Ct values were correlated, but polyester showed decreased performance for cases with a viral load near the detection threshold and higher Ct values on average.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Betacoronavirus / genetics
Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
COVID-19
COVID-19 Testing
Clinical Laboratory Techniques*
Convalescence*
Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
Coronavirus Infections / virology*
Culture Media
Disposable Equipment / supply & distribution
Female
Health Personnel
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Nasal Cavity / virology*
Pandemics*
Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
Pneumonia, Viral / virology*
Polyesters*
Polyurethanes*
RNA, Viral / analysis
Random Allocation
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
SARS-CoV-2
Saline Solution
Sensitivity and Specificity
Specimen Handling / instrumentation*
Specimen Handling / methods
Viral Load

Substances

Culture Media
Polyesters
Polyurethanes
RNA, Viral
Saline Solution

Grants and funding

Laboratory testing was conducted with financial support from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Brian Hart, Rachel Jennings, Prateek Verma, Deneen Vojta, and Ethan Berke were employees of UnitedHealth Group during the design and analysis of the study and initial drafting of the manuscript. Yuan-Po Tu is an employee of The Everett Clinic, which is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. Leah Padgett and Douglas Rains are employees of Quantigen Biosciences and have performed contract services for Thermo Fisher Scientific. UnitedHealth Group, The Everett Clinic, and Quantigen Biosciences provided support in the form of salaries for the authors, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.