Direct comparison of clinical diagnostic sensitivity of saliva from buccal swabs versus combined oro-/nasopharyngeal swabs in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Clinical Virology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcv Direct comparison of clinical diagnostic sensitivity of saliva from buccal swabs versus combined oro-/nasopharyngeal swabs in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron Andreas Puyskens a, Janine Michel a, Anna Stoliaroff-Pepin b, Fatimanur Bayram a, Akin Sesver a, Ole Wichmann b, Thomas Harder b, Lars Schaade a, Andreas Nitsche a, Caroline Peine b,* a Highly Pathogenic Viruses, Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens, WHO Reference Laboratory for SARS-CoV-2 and WHO Collaborating Centre for Emerging Infections and Biological Threats, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany b Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Immunization Unit, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) Clinical diagnostic sensitivity Saliva Buccal swab sampling Background/Purpose: While current guidelines recommend the use of respiratory tract specimens for the direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection, saliva has recently been suggested as preferred sample type for the sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron). By comparing saliva collected using buccal swabs and oro-/ nasopharyngeal swabs from patients hospitalized due to COVID-19, we aimed at identifying potential differences in virus detection sensitivity between these sample types. Methods: We compare the clinical...