Scientific Reports (Feb 2022)

Optical imaging spectroscopy for rapid, primary screening of SARS-CoV-2: a proof of concept

  • Emilio Gomez-Gonzalez,
  • Alejandro Barriga-Rivera,
  • Beatriz Fernandez-Muñoz,
  • Jose Manuel Navas-Garcia,
  • Isabel Fernandez-Lizaranzu,
  • Francisco Javier Munoz-Gonzalez,
  • Ruben Parrilla-Giraldez,
  • Desiree Requena-Lancharro,
  • Pedro Gil-Gamboa,
  • Cristina Rosell-Valle,
  • Carmen Gomez-Gonzalez,
  • Maria Jose Mayorga-Buiza,
  • Maria Martin-Lopez,
  • Olga Muñoz,
  • Juan Carlos Gomez-Martin,
  • Maria Isabel Relimpio-Lopez,
  • Jesus Aceituno-Castro,
  • Manuel A. Perales-Esteve,
  • Antonio Puppo-Moreno,
  • Francisco Jose Garcia-Cozar,
  • Lucia Olvera-Collantes,
  • Raquel Gomez-Diaz,
  • Silvia de los Santos-Trigo,
  • Monserrat Huguet-Carrasco,
  • Manuel Rey,
  • Emilia Gomez,
  • Rosario Sanchez-Pernaute,
  • Javier Padillo-Ruiz,
  • Javier Marquez-Rivas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06393-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 18

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Effective testing is essential to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission. Here we report a-proof-of-concept study on hyperspectral image analysis in the visible and near-infrared range for primary screening at the point-of-care of SARS-CoV-2. We apply spectral feature descriptors, partial least square-discriminant analysis, and artificial intelligence to extract information from optical diffuse reflectance measurements from 5 µL fluid samples at pixel, droplet, and patient levels. We discern preparations of engineered lentiviral particles pseudotyped with the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 from those with the G protein of the vesicular stomatitis virus in saline solution and artificial saliva. We report a quantitative analysis of 72 samples of nasopharyngeal exudate in a range of SARS-CoV-2 viral loads, and a descriptive study of another 32 fresh human saliva samples. Sensitivity for classification of exudates was 100% with peak specificity of 87.5% for discernment from PCR-negative but symptomatic cases. Proposed technology is reagent-free, fast, and scalable, and could substantially reduce the number of molecular tests currently required for COVID-19 mass screening strategies even in resource-limited settings.