Challenges and issues of SARS-CoV-2 pool testing – Authors' reply

Studies indicate a steady decline of viral loads and infectiousness after symptom onset.2,3 We recommended restricting pool testing to asymptomatic people, excluding patients with severe acute respiratory illness and high-risk contacts, and for when testing capacity is limited.1 For symptomatic indi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet infectious diseases 2020-11, Vol.20 (11), p.1234-1235
Main Authors: Lohse, Stefan, Pfuhl, Thorsten, Berkó-Göttel, Barbara, Gärtner, Barbara, Becker, Sören L, Schneitler, Sophie, Smola, Sigrun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymptomatic
Betacoronavirus
Coronavirus Infections
Correspondence
COVID-19
Diagnostic systems
Humans
Infectious diseases
Laboratories
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral
Ribonucleic acid
RNA
SARS Virus
SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Test procedures
Testing procedures
Ultrasonic testing
Viral diseases
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Summary:Studies indicate a steady decline of viral loads and infectiousness after symptom onset.2,3 We recommended restricting pool testing to asymptomatic people, excluding patients with severe acute respiratory illness and high-risk contacts, and for when testing capacity is limited.1 For symptomatic individuals we use individual testing so not to miss patients with low or borderline SARS-CoV-2 viral loads and to obtain diagnostic results as quickly as possible. To explain our observation, we hypothesised that samples with higher Ct values might have gained detection efficiency through an RNA carrier effect in pools from the other negative samples with potentially higher cellular RNA content. [...]we would be grateful if national authorities could guide SARS-CoV-2 pool testing procedures as has been done for blood donor pool testing in Germany4 and recently been announced by the US Food and Drug Administration for SARS-CoV-2.5 We declare no competing interests.
ISSN:1473-3099
1474-4457
DOI:10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30455-2