Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 8, 2026
Swabbing the Urban Environment - A Pipeline for Sampling and Detection of SARS-CoV-2 From Environmental Reservoirs
Published on: April 9, 2021
The Pandemic Respiratory Virus Epidemiological Surveillance Trial - A Self-swab Surveillance System for Respiratory
Camille Esneau1, David Boettiger1,2,3, Sarah Leask4
1Infection Research Program, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of effective surveillance and early warning systems for respiratory viruses, but most current surveillance data focus on symptomatic individuals visiting healthcare facilities. Symptomatic and asymptomatic virus transmission in the community can both play major roles in the spread of respiratory outbreaks. We aimed to assess the feasibility of monitoring symptomatic and asymptomatic respiratory virus infection in a sample of community dwelling volunteers.
Methods:
The Pandemic Respiratory Virus Epidemiological SurveillaNce Trial was nested within the ongoing FluTracking platform, which involves community-dwelling adults filling in a weekly online respiratory symptom survey. We recruited 52 FluTracking participants living in one Australian city to self-collect weekly nasal swabs and return them via post for a 50-week period. All swabs were tested for the presence of respiratory viruses using a 16-plex PCR panel. Results were correlated with weekly symptom surveys.
Results:
A total of 2068 nasal swabs were received, corresponding to an 84% swab collection and return rate. Fifty-five samples (3.0%) were discarded due to delayed postage or sample leakage. At least one sample tested positive for virus in 231 of 2013 participant-weeks (11.0%), with 24.2% of these detections being in asymptomatic individuals. Rhinovirus (57.6% of positive swabs) and SARS-COV-2 (20.3% of positive swabs) were the most frequently detected viruses.
Conclusions:
Regular self-collected nasal swabs for detecting respiratory viruses in a community setting is feasible in Australia and provides valuable information on asymptomatic infection.
