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Self-Sampling of Oropharyngeal Swabs Among Healthcare Workers for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Valuable Approach for Epidemiological Studies and Surveillance Programs

This study aimed at assessing the validity of self-collected (self-sampled) oropharyngeal (OP) swabs among healthcare workers compared to those collected by trained sentinel general practitioners (GP-sampled) from individuals with influenza-like illness (ILI), to be implemented in epidemiological st...

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Autores principales: Galli, Cristina, Pellegrinelli, Laura, Del Castillo, Gabriele, Forni, Giovanni, Gandolfi, Cecilia Eugenia, Mosillo, Marco, Pietronigro, Anna, Tiwana, Navpreet, Castaldi, Silvana, Pariani, Elena
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7719692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33330298
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.511669
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author Galli, Cristina
Pellegrinelli, Laura
Del Castillo, Gabriele
Forni, Giovanni
Gandolfi, Cecilia Eugenia
Mosillo, Marco
Pietronigro, Anna
Tiwana, Navpreet
Castaldi, Silvana
Pariani, Elena
author_facet Galli, Cristina
Pellegrinelli, Laura
Del Castillo, Gabriele
Forni, Giovanni
Gandolfi, Cecilia Eugenia
Mosillo, Marco
Pietronigro, Anna
Tiwana, Navpreet
Castaldi, Silvana
Pariani, Elena
author_sort Galli, Cristina
collection PubMed
description This study aimed at assessing the validity of self-collected (self-sampled) oropharyngeal (OP) swabs among healthcare workers compared to those collected by trained sentinel general practitioners (GP-sampled) from individuals with influenza-like illness (ILI), to be implemented in epidemiological studies and/or surveillance programs of viral pathogens involved in community respiratory infections. In our study, OP swabs were collected from adults (>18 years) with ILI during the 2018–2019 influenza season. Two groups of samples were considered: group 1−131 self-sampled OP swabs collected by healthcare workers after being trained on the sampling procedure; group 2−131 GP-sampled OP swabs collected from outpatients by sentinel GPs operating within the Italian Influenza Surveillance Network. To assess swabbing quality, following RNA extraction, each sample was tested for the presence of the human ribonuclease P gene (RNP) by in-house real-time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Samples with a cycle threshold (Ct) <35 were considered adequate for further virological analysis. Influenza viruses (IVs), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and rhinovirus (RV) genomes were detected by in-house real-time RT-PCR. All samples were positive to RNP detection with Ct <35. The mean Ct value was similar in the two groups (group 1 vs. group 2: 25.93 ± 2.22 vs. 25.46 ± 2.40; p = 0.10). IVs, RSV, and RV positivity rates were 26.7 vs. 52.7% (p < 0.01), 7.6 vs. 9.9% (p = 0.52), and 21.4 vs. 19.9% (p = 0.76), respectively. Self-sampled OP swabs resulted as valid as GP-sampled OP swabs for molecular detection of respiratory viruses. Self-swabbing can thus be a worthwhile strategy for sample collection to implement molecular surveillance of respiratory pathogens and carry out epidemiological studies, easily reaching a larger population size.
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spelling pubmed-77196922020-12-15 Self-Sampling of Oropharyngeal Swabs Among Healthcare Workers for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Valuable Approach for Epidemiological Studies and Surveillance Programs Galli, Cristina Pellegrinelli, Laura Del Castillo, Gabriele Forni, Giovanni Gandolfi, Cecilia Eugenia Mosillo, Marco Pietronigro, Anna Tiwana, Navpreet Castaldi, Silvana Pariani, Elena Front Public Health Public Health This study aimed at assessing the validity of self-collected (self-sampled) oropharyngeal (OP) swabs among healthcare workers compared to those collected by trained sentinel general practitioners (GP-sampled) from individuals with influenza-like illness (ILI), to be implemented in epidemiological studies and/or surveillance programs of viral pathogens involved in community respiratory infections. In our study, OP swabs were collected from adults (>18 years) with ILI during the 2018–2019 influenza season. Two groups of samples were considered: group 1−131 self-sampled OP swabs collected by healthcare workers after being trained on the sampling procedure; group 2−131 GP-sampled OP swabs collected from outpatients by sentinel GPs operating within the Italian Influenza Surveillance Network. To assess swabbing quality, following RNA extraction, each sample was tested for the presence of the human ribonuclease P gene (RNP) by in-house real-time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Samples with a cycle threshold (Ct) <35 were considered adequate for further virological analysis. Influenza viruses (IVs), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and rhinovirus (RV) genomes were detected by in-house real-time RT-PCR. All samples were positive to RNP detection with Ct <35. The mean Ct value was similar in the two groups (group 1 vs. group 2: 25.93 ± 2.22 vs. 25.46 ± 2.40; p = 0.10). IVs, RSV, and RV positivity rates were 26.7 vs. 52.7% (p < 0.01), 7.6 vs. 9.9% (p = 0.52), and 21.4 vs. 19.9% (p = 0.76), respectively. Self-sampled OP swabs resulted as valid as GP-sampled OP swabs for molecular detection of respiratory viruses. Self-swabbing can thus be a worthwhile strategy for sample collection to implement molecular surveillance of respiratory pathogens and carry out epidemiological studies, easily reaching a larger population size. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7719692/ /pubmed/33330298 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.511669 Text en Copyright © 2020 Galli, Pellegrinelli, Del Castillo, Forni, Gandolfi, Mosillo, Pietronigro, Tiwana, Castaldi and Pariani. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Galli, Cristina
Pellegrinelli, Laura
Del Castillo, Gabriele
Forni, Giovanni
Gandolfi, Cecilia Eugenia
Mosillo, Marco
Pietronigro, Anna
Tiwana, Navpreet
Castaldi, Silvana
Pariani, Elena
Self-Sampling of Oropharyngeal Swabs Among Healthcare Workers for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Valuable Approach for Epidemiological Studies and Surveillance Programs
title Self-Sampling of Oropharyngeal Swabs Among Healthcare Workers for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Valuable Approach for Epidemiological Studies and Surveillance Programs
title_full Self-Sampling of Oropharyngeal Swabs Among Healthcare Workers for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Valuable Approach for Epidemiological Studies and Surveillance Programs
title_fullStr Self-Sampling of Oropharyngeal Swabs Among Healthcare Workers for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Valuable Approach for Epidemiological Studies and Surveillance Programs
title_full_unstemmed Self-Sampling of Oropharyngeal Swabs Among Healthcare Workers for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Valuable Approach for Epidemiological Studies and Surveillance Programs
title_short Self-Sampling of Oropharyngeal Swabs Among Healthcare Workers for Molecular Detection of Respiratory Viruses: A Valuable Approach for Epidemiological Studies and Surveillance Programs
title_sort self-sampling of oropharyngeal swabs among healthcare workers for molecular detection of respiratory viruses: a valuable approach for epidemiological studies and surveillance programs
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7719692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33330298
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.511669
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