https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200427/saliva-covid-test-alternative-to-deep-nasal-swab
"By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, April 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus can be an unpleasant affair, with a doctor or nurse shoving a cotton swab deep into your nasal cavity to get a good sample.
But results that are just as accurate can be obtained from a more easily acquired saliva sample, a new Yale study reports.
Saliva samples taken from just inside the mouth were more accurate and consistent than deep nasal swabs taken from 44 patients and 98 health care workers, the researchers reported.
For instance, saliva samples detected the coronavirus in two health care workers without symptoms who'd previously been cleared by a deep nasal swab, the Yale researchers said.
"We found it performs as well as, and in a number of cases better, than the nasopharyngeal swab," said lead researcher Anne Wyllie, an associate research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Conn. "We have another very viable option."
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