Reducing False Negatives in COVID-19 Testing by Using Microneedle-Based Oropharyngeal Swabs

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Infectious Diseases
• Diagnostic Technologies

Background:

• Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a global health threat.
• Accurate etiological diagnosis is crucial for pandemic control.
• Conventional swabs exhibit high false-negative rates due to inefficient viral sampling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To engineer an improved swab for enhanced virus collection.
• To address the limitations of current diagnostic sampling methods for COVID-19.

Main Methods:

• Development of microneedle (MN) patches integrated with regular swabs.
• Utilizing MNs with varying crosslinking levels for mucus penetration and virus extraction.
• Incorporating antibodies (Abs) against viral spike proteins for active virus capture.

Main Results:

• Engineered swabs demonstrate significantly improved virus collection quality and quantity.
• MN patches exhibit dual capability for mucus penetration and virus extraction.
• Antibody integration enhances active virus capture potential.

Conclusions:

• The designed microneedle/antibody (MN/Ab) swabs offer a promising tool for improving sampling efficiency.
• This innovation has the potential to reduce false-negative rates in COVID-19 testing.
• The enhanced swabs could contribute to more effective containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.