In a new study, researchers developed a saliva test that may prove faster, cheaper, and less complicated than other common COVID-19 tests.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Recent studies show that frequent, repeated testing is key to detecting infected people quickly.
Because people can be contagious before they show symptoms of COVID-19, rapid testing can allow them to isolate and protect others before they even realize they are infected.
In the study, the team tuned a relatively simple genetic testing process to find evidence of the novel coronavirus in saliva.
The researchers have collected hundreds of samples from volunteers at three UW–Madison sites and a local elementary school.
The tests were completed in hours, a stark contrast to common wait times of several days or even weeks for results from other kinds of COVID-19 tests.
The team says this testing, if it is successful and can be expanded, offers hope that schools and workplaces could receive rapid turnaround testing to assist in the complex decision of managing education during the outbreak with a test that is still sensitive enough to catch the people who are contagious, but exceptional in terms of accessibility, cost, and turnaround time.
The test has not been approved for clinical diagnosis. The UW–Madison researchers are studying whether this type of test can be administered frequently and efficiently.
The project started in February—even before the first COVID-19 cases appeared in Madison—when the researchers were working to see if recent flu-like illnesses were actually the new virus.
The researchers have run more than 400 tests, finding two positive cases and one that may be a false positive.
Each result—positive and negative, save the potential false positive—has been confirmed later by checking the saliva sample with the clinical-lab-standard PCR testing.
One author of the study is David O’Connor, a professor at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
The study is posted on medRxiv.
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