Scientific Reports (Jul 2021)

Impact of repeated nasal sampling on detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2

  • Joshua M. Levy,
  • Jennifer K. Frediani,
  • Erika A. Tyburski,
  • Anna Wood,
  • Janet Figueroa,
  • Russell R. Kempker,
  • Paulina A. Rebolledo,
  • Mark D. Gonzalez,
  • Julie Sullivan,
  • Miriam B. Vos,
  • Jared O’Neal,
  • Greg S. Martin,
  • Wilbur A. Lam,
  • Jesse J. Waggoner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94547-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 5

Abstract

Read online

Abstract The impact of repeated sample collection on COVID-19 test performance is unknown. The FDA and CDC currently recommend the primary collection of diagnostic samples to minimize the perceived risk of false-negative findings. We therefore evaluated the association between repeated sample collection and test performance among 325 symptomatic patients undergoing COVID-19 testing in Atlanta, GA. High concordance was found between consecutively collected mid-turbinate samples with both molecular (n = 74, 100% concordance) and antigen-based (n = 147, 97% concordance, kappa = 0.95, CI = 0.88–1.00) diagnostic assays. Repeated sample collection does not decrease COVID-19 test performance, demonstrating that multiple samples can be collected for assay validation and clinical diagnosis.