PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

A rapid RT-LAMP SARS-CoV-2 screening assay for collapsing asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission.

  • Rebecca C Allsopp,
  • Caroline M Cowley,
  • Ruth C Barber,
  • Carolyn Jones,
  • Christopher W Holmes,
  • Paul W Bird,
  • Shailesh G Gohil,
  • Claire Blackmore,
  • Martin D Tobin,
  • Nigel Brunskill,
  • Philip N Baker,
  • Jacqui A Shaw

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273912
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 9
p. e0273912

Abstract

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PurposeTo demonstrate the diagnostic performance of rapid SARS-CoV-2 RT-LAMP assays, comparing the performance of genomic versus sub-genomic sequence target with subsequent application in an asymptomatic screening population.MethodsRT-LAMP diagnostic specificity (DSe) and sensitivity (DSe) was determined using 114 RT-PCR clinically positive and 88 RT-PCR clinically negative swab samples processed through the diagnostic RT-PCR service within the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. A swab-based RT-LAMP SARS-CoV-2 screening programme was subsequently made available to all staff and students at the University of Leicester (Autumn 2020), implemented to ISO 15189:2012 standards using NHS IT infrastructure and supported by University Hospital Leicester via confirmatory NHS diagnostic laboratory testing of RT-LAMP 'positive' samples.ResultsValidation samples reporting a Ct ConclusionThis work demonstrates the utility of a rapid RT-LAMP assay for collapsing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in an asymptomatic screening population.