
@article {131285,
	title = {Validating saliva as a biological sample for cost-effective, rapid and routine screening for SARS-CoV-2},
	journal = {INDIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY},
	volume = {45},
	year = {2023},
	month = {09/2023},
	abstract = {<p><span _ngcontent-nsr-c344="">Purpose: Compared to nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs (N/OPS-VTM), non-invasive saliva samples have enormous potential for scalability and routine population screening of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we investigate the efficacy of saliva samples relative to N/OPS-VTM for use as a direct source for RT-PCR based SARS-CoV-2 detection. Methods: We collected paired nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs and saliva samples from suspected positive SARS-CoV-2 patients and tested using RT-PCR. We used generalized linear models to investigate factors that explain result agreement. Further, we used simulations to evaluate the effectiveness of saliva-based screening in restricting the spread of infection in a large campus such as an educational institution. Results: We observed a 75.4\% agreement between saliva and N/OPS-VTM, that increased drastically to 83\% in samples stored for less than three days. Such samples processed within two days of collection showed 74.5\% test sensitivity. Our simulations suggest that a test with 75\% sensitivity, but high daily capacity can be very effective in limiting the size of infection clusters in a workspace. Guided by these results, we successfully implemented a saliva-based screening in the Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster (BLiSC) campus. Conclusion: These results suggest that saliva may be a viable alternate source for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance if samples are processed immediately. Although saliva shows slightly lower sensitivity levels when compared to N/ OPS-VTM, saliva collection is logistically advantageous. We strongly recommend the implementation of salivabased screening strategies for large workplaces and in schools, as well as for population-level screening and routine surveillance as we learn to live with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.</span></p>
},
	doi = {10.1016/j.ijmmb.2023.100384},
	author = {Ansil, B R and George, Carolin Elizabeth and Chandrasingh, Sindhulina and Viswanathan, Ashwin and Thattai, Mukund and Raghu, Padinjat and Devadiga, Santhosha and Harikumar, Arun Geetha and Harsha, Pulleri Kandi and Nair, Indu and Ramakrishnan, Uma and Mayor, Satyajit}
}
