Self or caregiver swabs are as effective as healthcare workers’ swabs at detecting pathogens

According to a team of Australian researchers, caregivers’ self-swabs and swabs are effective at detecting several pathogens and are just as accurate as those performed by healthcare workers. The search appears in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology.

Across the spectrum of pathogens and swab types, there was strong agreement between the results of samples taken by staff or caregivers and those taken by a healthcare professional, even when different sites were sampled (e.g. example, nasopharynx or nasal). “

Joshua Osowicki, BMedSci, MBBS, FRACP, Principal Investigator, Pediatric Infectious Disease Physician in the Tropical Diseases Research Group of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

“We found a combined sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 98% for upper respiratory tract swabs taken by themselves or caregivers compared to swabs from healthcare workers,” the investigators wrote. (Sensitivity refers to the proportion of those who test positive that are correctly identified, and specificity refers to the proportion of negative tests that are correctly identified.)

“The results were similar when only SARS-CoV-2 data was taken into account,” the researchers wrote. “This level of diagnostic performance should reassure clinicians, researchers and public health officials that diagnostic performance is not necessarily compromised by self or caregiver swabbing.

Pathogens sampled in the study include SARS-CoV-2, influenza, group A streptococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, pharynx Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and a respiratory virus panel.

The study was a systematic review and meta-analysis of 20 previous studies that included swabs from more than 3,500 people, comparing self- or caregiver swabs with swabs collected by health workers for the diagnosis of a disease. range of upper respiratory pathogens. “We looked for previous studies that included both types of swabs taken from the same individuals,” Dr. Osowicki said. “For each study, we considered the sensitivity and specificity of the self-care or nursing samples compared to the samples taken by healthcare workers, and the agreement between the two types of swabs.

Sampling by healthcare workers and caregivers offers a number of advantages over sampling by healthcare workers, including lower likelihood of transmission, reduced expense, retention of personal protective equipment and less discomfort for patients. An online survey of patients with symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 found that a much higher proportion wanted to be tested via a self-collected saliva sample (92%) or nasal swab (88%) than by taking a swab from a healthcare professional. (71%) ”, according to the investigators.

When then medical student and first author Ciara Harrison’s plans to complete an immunology lab project were derailed by the pandemic, now first-year physician Dr Harrison turned to this review. systematic and this meta-analysis.