Correctly performed nasal swabs
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Updated: Nov 11, 2025
Nasal Brushing Sampling and Processing Using Digital High Speed Ciliary Videomicroscopy – Adaptation for the COVID-19 Pandemic
Published on: November 7, 2020
Konstantin Zedtwitz-Liebenstein1
1Head Office of Vienna Hospital Association, Thomas Klestil Platz 7, 1030, Vienna, Austria. konstantin.zedtwitz-liebenstein@gesundheitsverbund.at.
Background:
As the incidence of new cases of coronavirus disease increased exponentially, the use of viral swabs to collect nasopharyngeal specimens are increasing drastically. Therefore, healthcare workers military staff and uneducated nonprofessional's were ordered to make this swabs. Subsequently case reports reported about basal skull perforation, cerebrospinal fluid fistula and injury due to an incorrect technique.
Methods:
Search of the literature.
Results:
Only in 44% of the videos (Youtube) nasal swabs were correctly performed. Due to an false technique biological sampling resulted in false-negative COVID-19 tests.
Conclusion:
Although professional societies started to report about this unacceptable situation, no publication reported about this health endangerment. In this time of overwhelming information and diversity of opinions, it is necessary to report about this in the hope, all media and TV reports will follow this article to show correctly performed nasal swabs to reduce false-negative COVID-19 tests and injury.
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