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Qualitative and quantitative effects of thermal treatment of naso-oropharyngeal samples before cobas SARS-CoV-2 testing

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To improve laboratory safety we thermally treated naso-oropharyngeal samples before testing with the cobas SARS-CoV-2 assay. This study aimed to determine if thermal treatment significantly affects the qualitative detection of… Click to show full abstract

To improve laboratory safety we thermally treated naso-oropharyngeal samples before testing with the cobas SARS-CoV-2 assay. This study aimed to determine if thermal treatment significantly affects the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 and the quantitative measurement of cobas SARS-CoV-2 ORF1a and E-gene target copy number using an in-house quantitative method. A collection of positive (n=238) and negative samples (n=196) was tested in parallel comparing thermal treatment (75°C for 15 minutes) to room-temperature. There were no significant differences in the final qualitative outcomes for thermal treatment versus room-temperature (99.8% agreement) despite a statistically significant reduction (p<0.05) in target copy number following thermal treatment. The median ORF1a and E-gene reduction in target copy number was ­0.07 (1.6%) and ­0.22 (4.2%) log10 copies/mL respectively. The standard curves for both ORF1a and E-gene targets were highly linear (r2=0.99). Good correlation was observed for ORF1a (r2=0.96) and E-gene (r2=0.98) comparing thermal treatment to room-temperature control.

Keywords: cobas sars; treatment; oropharyngeal samples; sars cov; thermal treatment; naso oropharyngeal

Journal Title: Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Year Published: 2021

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