RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Extended storage of SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal swabs does not negatively impact results of molecular-based testing across three clinical platforms
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 61
OP 64
DO 10.1136/jclinpath-2020-206738
VO 75
IS 1
A1 Skalina, Karin A
A1 Goldstein, D Y
A1 Sulail, Jaffar
A1 Hahm, Eunkyu
A1 Narlieva, Momka
A1 Szymczak, Wendy
A1 Fox, Amy S
YR 2022
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/75/1/61.abstract
AB With the global outbreak of COVID-19, the demand for testing rapidly increased and quickly exceeded the testing capacities of many laboratories. Clinical tests which receive CE (Conformité Européenne) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorisations cannot always be tested thoroughly in a real-world environment. Here we demonstrate the long-term stability of nasopharyngeal swab specimens for SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing across three assays recently approved by the US FDA under Emergency Use Authorization. This study demonstrates that nasopharyngeal swab specimens can be stored under refrigeration or even ambient conditions for 21 days without clinically impacting the results of the real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR testing.