Saliva testing for SARS-CoV-2 in children

Abstract

\n If found to have adequate sensitivity and specificity, saliva would be an ideal sample type for identifying SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses in children, as its collection is less invasive than other standard upper respiratory tract sample types such as nasopharyngeal swab (NPS), deep nasal/oropharyngeal swab or nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA). At present, the majority of commercial SARS-CoV-2 assays do not list saliva as an acceptable sample type for nucleic acid testing (NAT) and therefore validation studies assessing the use of this sample type are welcome.\n