Journal
JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Volume 222, Issue 6, Pages 899-902Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa370
Keywords
COVID-19; ddPCR; false negative; nasopharyngeal swab; sample quality
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Funding
- Genome BC COVID-19 Rapid Response grant [COV-115]
- Canadian Institutes for Health Research
- Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
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False-negative severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 test results can negatively impact the clinical and public health response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We used droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) to demonstrate that human DNA levels, a stable molecular marker of sampling quality, were significantly lower in samples from 40 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases that yielded negative diagnostic test results (ie, suspected false-negative test results) compared with a representative pool of 87 specimens submitted for COVID-19 testing. Our results support suboptimal biological sampling as a contributor to false-negative COVID-19 test results and underscore the importance of proper training and technique in the collection of nasopharyngeal specimens.
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