New Saliva Test For COVID-19 Is Less Comfortable, Gives Result In 2 Hours

With the novel coronavirus taking over our lives, our lives came to a sudden halt, with the whole world suddenly getting locked down.

During this time, everyone who was travelling had to get tested through RT-PCR tests which were collected using nasal swabs.

Reuters

While the testing methodology was fairly accurate it came at the cost of being extremely uncomfortable (you¡¯d know if you¡¯ve got one done) with the cotton swab hitting the upper-most layer of the nasal cavity to detect the presence of the novel coronavirus.

However, it looks like this will soon be a thing of the past as now researchers have developed a novel two-step saliva test that can identify the presence of SARS CoV-2 in a matter of hours.

The test is done in two phases -- two samples will be collected from the individual. The first sample will give the result in two hours with the solution glowing in case the saliva consists of SARS CoV-2 coronavirus -- similar to instant pregnancy tests.

The second sample will be sent to a special genetic sequencing facility to confirm the status of the infection with a more stringent check to get rid of false positives if any.

While it¡¯s no secret that saliva is easier to collect than nasal samples, the viral genetic information is present in it at really minute levels. Even with RT-PCR tests, researchers amplify the amount to a detectable level to denote the presence of the novel coronavirus.

Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute have managed to amplify this by simply using saliva but without any lab-based tech. The method involves heating that amplifies viral RNA inside a portable gadget to allow it to reach temperatures of 41 degrees celsius. Once there are 50 copies of the RNA the test will give a positive result.

Reuters

Chenqu Suo, the joint first author of the study, explained, ¡°Using saliva as an input, and an isothermal reaction to amplify viral RNA, has the advantage of simplifying the Covid-19 testing process considerably while maintaining "gold standard" accuracy.

The test is awaiting regulatory approvals to be used among the masses.