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Updated: Sep 20, 2025
Efficient SARS-CoV-2 Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR Saliva Diagnostic Strategy utilizing Open-Source Pipetting Robots
Published on: February 11, 2022
Oral saliva swab reverse transcription PCR for Covid-19 in the paediatric population
Cinta Moraleda1,2, Sara Domínguez-Rodríguez2, Juan Miguel Mesa3
1Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit. Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre. Pediatric Research and Clinical Trials Unit (UPIC). RITIP (Translational Research Network in Pediatric Infectious Diseases), Madrid, Spain cintamoraledaredecilla@gmail.com.
Objectives:
To evaluate the performance of oral saliva swab (OSS) reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) compared with RT-PCR and antigen rapid diagnostic test (Ag-RDT) on nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) for SARS-CoV-2 in children.
Design:
Cross-sectional multicentre diagnostic study.
Setting:
Study nested in a prospective, observational cohort (EPICO-AEP) performed between February and March 2021 including 10 hospitals in Spain.
Patients:
Children from 0 to 18 years with symptoms compatible with Covid-19 of ≤5 days of duration were included. Two NPS samples (Ag-RDT and RT-PCR) and one OSS sample for RT-PCR were collected.
Main Outcome:
Performance of Ag-RDT and RT-PCR on NPS and RT-PCR on OSS sample for SARS-CoV-2.
Results:
1174 children were included, aged 3.8 years (IQR 1.7-9.0); 73/1174 (6.2%) patients tested positive by at least one of the techniques. Sensitivity and specificity of OSS RT-PCR were 72.1% (95% CI 59.7 to 81.9) and 99.6% (95% CI 99 to 99.9), respectively, versus 61.8% (95% CI 49.1 to 73) and 99.9% (95% CI 99.4 to 100) for the Ag-RDT. Kappa index was 0.79 (95% CI 0.72 to 0.88) for OSS RT-PCR and 0.74 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.84) for Ag-RDT versus NPS RT-PCR.
Conclusions:
RT-PCR on the OSS sample is an accurate option for SARS-CoV-2 testing in children. A less intrusive technique for younger patients, who usually are tested frequently, might increase the number of patients tested.
