Diagnostic Yield of Saliva for SARS-CoV-2 Molecular Testing in Children

Dithi Banerjee; Anjana Sasidharan; Ayah Abdulhamid; Esmeralda M Orosco; Jennifer L Watts; Jennifer E Schuster; Angela L Myers; Gina Weddle; Rangaraj Selvarangan

doi:10.1093/jpids/piab058

Diagnostic Yield of Saliva for SARS-CoV-2 Molecular Testing in Children

J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2021 Nov 11;10(10):967-969. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piab058.

Authors

Dithi Banerjee^{1

2}, Anjana Sasidharan¹, Ayah Abdulhamid¹, Esmeralda M Orosco¹, Jennifer L Watts^{2

3}, Jennifer E Schuster^{2

3}, Angela L Myers^{2

3}, Gina Weddle³, Rangaraj Selvarangan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
² University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Children's Mercy, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

Abstract

Pediatric saliva specimen demonstrated high sensitivity (93%) and specificity (96.2%) compared to paired nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) by Aptima SARS-CoV-2 Assay (Aptima). Viral loads were comparable in both specimen types. Saliva is a safe, noninvasive, and acceptable alternative specimen for SARS-CoV-2 detection in children.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; molecular assay; pediatric; saliva.

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Child
Humans
Molecular Diagnostic Techniques
Nasopharynx
SARS-CoV-2*
Saliva
Specimen Handling