Pooling Upper Respiratory Specimens for Rapid Mass Screening of COVID-19 by Real-Time RT-PCR.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kim SY
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7510748 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:BackgroundNucleic acid amplification testing is a critical tool for addressing the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Specimen pooling can increase throughput and conserve testing resources but requires validation to ensure that reduced sensitivity does not increase the false-negative rate. We evaluated the performance of a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use for pooled testing of upper respiratory specimens.MethodsPositive specimens were selected from 3 prevalence groups, 1%-3%, >3%-6%, and >6%-10%. Positive percent agreement (PPA) was assessed by pooling single-positive specimens with 3 negative specimens; performance was assessed using Passing-Bablok regression. Additionally, we assessed the distributions of RT-PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values for 3091 positive specimens.ResultsPPA was 100% for the 101 pooled specimens. There was a linear relationship between Ct values for pooled and single-tested specimens (r = 0.96-0.99; slope ≈ 1). The mean pooled Ct shifts at 40 cycles were 2.38 and 1.90, respectively, for the N1 and N3 targets. The median Cts for 3091 positive specimens were 25.9 (N1) and 24.7 (N3). The percentage of positive specimens with Cts between 40 and the shifted Ct was 1.42% (N1) and 0.0% (N3).ConclusionsPooled and individual testing of specimens positive for SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated 100% agreement, which demonstrates the viability of pooled specimens for SARS-COV-2 testing using a dual-target RT-PCR system. Pooled specimen testing can help increase testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2 with a low risk of false-negative results.
| S-EPMC7543567 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of sample pooling compared to the individual analysis for the diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by using different commercial platforms for nucleic acid extraction and amplification.MethodsA total of 3519 nasopharyngeal samples received at nine Spanish clinical microbiology laboratories were processed individually and in pools (342 pools of ten samples and 11 pools of nine samples) according to the existing methodology in place at each centre.ResultsWe found that 253 pools (2519 samples) were negative and 99 pools (990 samples) were positive; with 241 positive samples (6.85%), our pooling strategy would have saved 2167 PCR tests. For 29 pools (made out of 290 samples), we found discordant results when compared to their correspondent individual samples, as follows: in 22 of 29 pools (28 samples), minor discordances were found; for seven pools (7 samples), we found major discordances. Sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values for pooling were 97.10% (95% confidence interval (CI), 94.11-98.82), 100%, 100% and 99.79% (95% CI, 99.56-99.90) respectively; accuracy was 99.80% (95% CI, 99.59-99.92), and the kappa concordant coefficient was 0.984. The dilution of samples in our pooling strategy resulted in a median loss of 2.87 (95% CI, 2.46-3.28) cycle threshold (Ct) for E gene, 3.36 (95% CI, 2.89-3.85) Ct for the RdRP gene and 2.99 (95% CI, 2.56-3.43) Ct for the N gene.ConclusionsWe found a high efficiency of pooling strategies for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA testing across different RNA extraction and amplification platforms, with excellent performance in terms of sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values.
| S-EPMC7481316 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Rapid and accurate diagnosis of viral respiratory infections is crucial for patient management. Multiplex reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (mRT-PCR) is used increasingly to diagnose respiratory infections and has shown to be more sensitive than viral culture and antigen detection. Objective of the present study was to develop a one-step mRT-PCR that could detect 18 respiratory viruses in three sets. The method was compared with real time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) for its sensitivity and specificity. Clinical specimens from 843 pediatric patients with respiratory symptoms were used in the study. 503 (59.7%) samples were detected positive by mRT-PCR. Of these 462 (54.8%) exhibited presence of a single pathogen and 41 (4.9%) had multiple pathogens. rRT-PCR detected 439 (52.1%) positive samples, where 419 (49.7%) exhibited one virus and 20 (2.4%) showed co-infections. Concordance between mRT-PCR and rRT-PCR was 91.9% and kappa correlation 0.837. Sensitivity and specificity of mRT-PCR were 99.5% and 83.7% while that of rRT-PCR was 86.9% and 99.4% respectively. Rhinovirus (17.2%) was the most frequently detected virus followed by respiratory syncytial virus B (15.4%), H1N1pdm09 (8.54%), parainfluenza virus-3 (5.8%) and metapneumovirus (5.2%). In conclusion, mRT-PCR is a rapid, cost effective, specific and highly sensitive method for detection of respiratory viruses.
| S-EPMC7119668 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We examined a collection of 386 animal, 451 human, and 109 archived bioaerosol samples with a new pan-species coronavirus molecular assay. Thirty-eight (4.02%) of 946 specimens yielded evidence of human or animal coronaviruses. Our findings demonstrate the utility of employing the pan-CoV RT-PCR assay in detecting varied coronavirus among human, animal, and environmental specimens. This RT-PCR assay might be employed as a screening diagnostic for early detection of coronaviruses incursions or prepandemic coronavirus emergence in animal or human populations.
| S-EPMC8179717 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing has lagged in many countries because of test kit shortages and analytical process bottlenecks. This study investigated the feasibility and accuracy of a sample pooling approach for wide-scale population screening for coronavirus disease 2019. A total of 940 nasopharyngeal swab samples (934 negative and 6 positive) previously tested for SARS-CoV-2 were deidentified and assigned random numbers for analysis, and 94 pools of 10 samples each were generated. Automated RNA extraction, followed by RT-PCR, was performed in a 96-well plate. Positive pools were identified, and the individual samples were reanalyzed. Of the 94 pools/wells, four were positive [Ct values: N (22.7 to 28.3), ORF1ab (23.3 to 27.2), and internal control (34.4 to 35.4)]. The 40 samples comprising the four pools were identified and reanalyzed individually; six samples were positive, with Ct values of N gene, ORF1ab, and internal control comparable to their respective wells. Additional experiments were performed on samples with high Ct values, and overall results showed 91.6% positive and 100% negative agreement compared with individual testing approach. Thus, 940 samples were tested in 148 reactions compared with 940 reactions in routine screening. The sample pooling strategy may help catch up with testing needs and minimal turnaround times and facilitate enormous savings on laboratory supplies, extraction, and PCR kits currently in short supply.
| S-EPMC7391280 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Most reverse transcription PCR protocols for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) include 2-3 targets for detection. We developed a triplex, real-time reverse transcription PCR for SARS-CoV-2 that maintained clinical performance compared with singleplex assays. This protocol could streamline detection and decrease reagent use during current high SARS-CoV-2 testing demands.
| S-EPMC7323516 | biostudies-literature
Project description:As severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections continue, there is a substantial need for cost-effective and large-scale testing that utilizes specimens that can be readily collected from both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals in various community settings. Although multiple diagnostic methods utilize nasopharyngeal specimens, saliva specimens represent an attractive alternative as they can rapidly and safely be collected from different populations. While saliva has been described as an acceptable clinical matrix for the detection of SARS-CoV-2, evaluations of analytic performance across platforms for this specimen type are limited. Here, we used a novel sensitive RT-PCR/MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry-based assay (Agena MassARRAY®) to detect SARS-CoV-2 in saliva specimens. The platform demonstrated high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity when compared to matched patient upper respiratory specimens. We also evaluated the analytical sensitivity of the platform and determined the limit of detection of the assay to be 1562.5 copies/ml. Furthermore, across the five individual target components of this assay, there was a range in analytic sensitivities for each target with the N2 target being the most sensitive. Overall, this system also demonstrated comparable performance when compared to the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva by the cobas® 6800/8800 SARS-CoV-2 real-time RT-PCR Test (Roche). Together, we demonstrate that saliva represents an appropriate matrix for SARS-CoV-2 detection on the novel Agena system as well as on a conventional real-time RT-PCR assay. We conclude that the MassARRAY® system is a sensitive and reliable platform for SARS-CoV-2 detection in saliva, offering scalable throughput in a large variety of clinical laboratory settings.
| S-EPMC8242556 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Diagnosis of the etiologic agent of respiratory viral infection relies traditionally on culture or antigen detection. This pilot evaluation compared performance characteristics of the RT-PCR and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (RT-PCR/ESI-MS) platform to conventional virologic methods for identifying multiple clinically relevant respiratory viruses in nasopharyngeal aspirates. The RT-PCR/ESI-MS respiratory virus surveillance kit was designed to detect respiratory syncytial virus, influenza A and B, parainfluenza types 1-4, adenoviridae types A-F, coronaviridae, human bocavirus, and human metapneumovirus. Patients (N=192) attending an emergency department during the 2007-2008 respiratory season consented, and "excess" frozen archived nasopharyngeal aspirates were analysed; 46 were positive by conventional virology and 69 by RT-PCR/ESI-MS, among which there were six samples with multiple viral pathogens detected. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay were 89.1% and 80.3%, respectively. Additional viruses that were not identified by conventional virology assays were detected (4 human bocaviruses and 7 coronaviruses). Samples in which the RT-PCR/ESI-MS results disagreed with conventional virology were sent for analysis by a third method using a commercial RT-PCR-based assay, which can identify viruses not detectable by conventional virologic procedures. Time to first result of RT-PCR/ESI-MS was 8h. RT-PCR/ESI-MS demonstrated capacity to detect respiratory viruses identifiable and unidentifiable by conventional methods rapidly.
| S-EPMC3221309 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundPrompt detection of PRRSV in the field samples is important for effective PRRS control, thereby reducing the potentially serious economic damage which can result from an outbreak. In this study, a rapid SYBR-based, one step real-time RT-PCR quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) has been developed for the detection of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Primers were designed based on the sequence of highly conservative region of PRRSV N gene.ResultsThe sensitivity of the real-time qRT-PCR assay was achieved through PRRSV ch-1a RNA for the generation of a standard curve. The detection limit of the assay was found to be 9.6 RNA copies per reaction mixture. This assay had excellent intra- and inter-assay reproducibility as in total 65 field samples were screened for the presence of PRRSV by conventional RT-PCR in parallel with qRT-PCR, and the detection rate increased from 60.0% to 76.9%. Moreover, the specificity result indicated that this assay could reliably differentiate PRRSV from the other swine viral diseases, such as classical swine fever virus (CSFV), swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) and vesicular exanthema of swine virus (VESV).ConclusionThe real-time qRT-PCR assay described in this report allows the rapid, specific and sensitive laboratory detection of PRRSV in field samples.
| S-EPMC2874540 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The aim of this study was to identify and validate a sensitive, high-throughput, and cost-effective SARS-CoV-2 real-time RT-PCR assay to be used as a surveillance and diagnostic tool for SARS-CoV-2 in a university surveillance program. We conducted a side-by-side clinical evaluation of a newly developed SARS-CoV-2 multiplex assay (EZ-SARS-CoV-2 Real-Time RT-PCR) with the commercial TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Kit, which has an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA. The EZ-SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR incorporates two assays targeting the SARS-CoV-2 N gene, an internal control targeting the human RNase P gene, and a PCR inhibition control in a single reaction. Nasopharyngeal (NP) and anterior nares (AN) swabs were tested as individuals and pools with both assays and in the ABI 7500 Fast and the QuantStudio 5 detection platforms. The analytical sensitivity of the EZ-SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assay was 250 copies/ml or approximately 1.75 genome copy equivalents per reaction. The clinical performance of the EZ-SARS-CoV-2 assay was evaluated using NP and AN samples tested in other laboratories. The diagnostic sensitivity of the assay ranged between 94 and 96% across the detection platforms, and the diagnostic specificity was 94.06%. The positive predictive value was 94%, and the negative predictive value ranged from 94 to 96%. Pooling five NP or AN specimens yielded 93% diagnostic sensitivity. The overall agreement between these SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assays was high, supported by a Cohen's kappa value of 0.93. The EZ-SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assay performance attributes of high sensitivity and specificity with AN sample matrix and pooled upper respiratory samples support its use in a high-throughput surveillance testing program.
| S-EPMC8278812 | biostudies-literature