Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia

In French Polynesia, the first case of SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected on March 10(th), 2020, in a resident returning from France. Between March 28(th) and July 14(th), international air traffic was interrupted and local transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was brought under control, with only 62 cases reco...

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Autores principales: Aubry, Maite, Teiti, Iotefa, Teissier, Anita, Richard, Vaea, Mariteragi-Helle, Teheipuaura, Chung, Kiyojiken, Deen, Farah, Paoaafaite, Tuterarii, Cao-Lormeau, Van-Mai
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8412272/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34473769
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256877
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author Aubry, Maite
Teiti, Iotefa
Teissier, Anita
Richard, Vaea
Mariteragi-Helle, Teheipuaura
Chung, Kiyojiken
Deen, Farah
Paoaafaite, Tuterarii
Cao-Lormeau, Van-Mai
author_facet Aubry, Maite
Teiti, Iotefa
Teissier, Anita
Richard, Vaea
Mariteragi-Helle, Teheipuaura
Chung, Kiyojiken
Deen, Farah
Paoaafaite, Tuterarii
Cao-Lormeau, Van-Mai
author_sort Aubry, Maite
collection PubMed
description In French Polynesia, the first case of SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected on March 10(th), 2020, in a resident returning from France. Between March 28(th) and July 14(th), international air traffic was interrupted and local transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was brought under control, with only 62 cases recorded. The main challenge for reopening the air border without requiring travelers to quarantine on arrival was to limit the risk of re-introducing SARS-CoV-2. Specific measures were implemented, including the obligation for all travelers to have a negative RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 carried out within 3 days before departure, and to perform another RT-PCR testing 4 days after arrival. Because of limitation in available medical staff, travelers were provided a kit allowing self-collection of oral and nasal swabs. In addition to increase our testing capacity, self-collected samples from up to 10 travelers were pooled before RNA extraction and RT-PCR testing. When a pool tested positive, RNA extraction and RT-PCR were performed on each individual sample. We report here the results of COVID-19 surveillance (COV-CHECK PORINETIA) conducted between July 15(th), 2020, and February 15(th), 2021, in travelers using self-collection and pooling approaches. We tested 5,982 pools comprising 59,490 individual samples, and detected 273 (0.46%) travelers positive for SARS-CoV-2. A mean difference of 1.17 Ct (CI 95% 0.93–1.41) was found between positive individual samples and pools (N = 50), probably related to the volume of samples used for RNA extraction (200 μL versus 50 μL, respectively). Retrospective testing of positive samples self-collected from October 20(th), 2020, using variants-specific amplification kit and spike gene sequencing, found at least 6 residents infected by the Alpha variant. Self-collection and pooling approaches allowed large-scale screening for SARS-CoV-2 using less human, material and financial resources. Moreover, this strategy allowed detecting the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in French Polynesia.
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spelling pubmed-84122722021-09-03 Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia Aubry, Maite Teiti, Iotefa Teissier, Anita Richard, Vaea Mariteragi-Helle, Teheipuaura Chung, Kiyojiken Deen, Farah Paoaafaite, Tuterarii Cao-Lormeau, Van-Mai PLoS One Research Article In French Polynesia, the first case of SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected on March 10(th), 2020, in a resident returning from France. Between March 28(th) and July 14(th), international air traffic was interrupted and local transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was brought under control, with only 62 cases recorded. The main challenge for reopening the air border without requiring travelers to quarantine on arrival was to limit the risk of re-introducing SARS-CoV-2. Specific measures were implemented, including the obligation for all travelers to have a negative RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 carried out within 3 days before departure, and to perform another RT-PCR testing 4 days after arrival. Because of limitation in available medical staff, travelers were provided a kit allowing self-collection of oral and nasal swabs. In addition to increase our testing capacity, self-collected samples from up to 10 travelers were pooled before RNA extraction and RT-PCR testing. When a pool tested positive, RNA extraction and RT-PCR were performed on each individual sample. We report here the results of COVID-19 surveillance (COV-CHECK PORINETIA) conducted between July 15(th), 2020, and February 15(th), 2021, in travelers using self-collection and pooling approaches. We tested 5,982 pools comprising 59,490 individual samples, and detected 273 (0.46%) travelers positive for SARS-CoV-2. A mean difference of 1.17 Ct (CI 95% 0.93–1.41) was found between positive individual samples and pools (N = 50), probably related to the volume of samples used for RNA extraction (200 μL versus 50 μL, respectively). Retrospective testing of positive samples self-collected from October 20(th), 2020, using variants-specific amplification kit and spike gene sequencing, found at least 6 residents infected by the Alpha variant. Self-collection and pooling approaches allowed large-scale screening for SARS-CoV-2 using less human, material and financial resources. Moreover, this strategy allowed detecting the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in French Polynesia. Public Library of Science 2021-09-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8412272/ /pubmed/34473769 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256877 Text en © 2021 Aubry et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Aubry, Maite
Teiti, Iotefa
Teissier, Anita
Richard, Vaea
Mariteragi-Helle, Teheipuaura
Chung, Kiyojiken
Deen, Farah
Paoaafaite, Tuterarii
Cao-Lormeau, Van-Mai
Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia
title Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia
title_full Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia
title_fullStr Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia
title_full_unstemmed Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia
title_short Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia
title_sort self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for rt-pcr-based sars-cov-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in french polynesia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8412272/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34473769
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256877
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