Gargled water can be used for COVID-19 sample collection replacing swabs
According to a study released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Gargle lavage may be a possible option to swabs for sample collection for detecting COVID-19.
ICMR said that the key purpose of this study was to examine if gargle lavage is an ideal respiratory sample (in place of the swab) for the detecting SARS-CoV-2, and the secondary goal was to assess the patient acceptability of the two sampling methods.
ICMR’s top scientists conducted a cross-sectional research study at AIIMS, Delhi on 50 COVID-19 patients from May-June.
The research published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research revealed that it was not clear whether the risk of aerosol generation was similar to swab collection (generally leads to coughing and sneezing) or greater.
The research claimed that to reduce the danger of transmission because of aerosols and to make the best use of the benefits of this approach of sample collection, it would be best to employ it for house collection. Additionally, it can not be utilized in patients who are critically and in young children/patients that might not be able to gargle or adhere to instructions
.As it will enable easy self-collection, lead to substantial cost savings by reducing the need for swabs and personal protective equipment, and relieve healthcare workers, this new method of sample collection will certainly have a significant influence.
As per the research, irrespective of the symptoms and duration of illness, all gargle samples were positive and comparable to their corresponding swab samples.
Compared to the swab samples, the cycle threshold values for gargle samples were slightly higher. With swab collection, most of the patients (72%) reported moderate to severe discomfort and only 24% of people reported mild discomfort with the gargle sample collection method, additionally, the study added that the bland-altman plot showed good agreement between the two approaches.
As per ICMR, there are several drawbacks with swab collection and it also requires training, exposes the healthcare workers to the virus-containing aerosols, is resource-intensive, and has poor patient acceptability.
Additionally, the research noted that the need of the moment is an alternative sample collection method for COVID-19 that could overcome most of these drawbacks. Gargle lavage is one such method of sample collection. Currently, only a few published information on the suitability of gargle specimens is available to diagnose COVID-19, even though the use of gargle specimens is not a new method.
The study stated that both Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab and gargle samples were taken within 72 hours of their diagnosis, and RT-PCR was used to process the samples for the detection of COVID-19. To assess the level of discomfort with either of the collection methods, a 10-point scale was administered after the sample collection.
Gargled water can be used for COVID-19 sample collection replacing throat swabs
Author: Sruthi S
