{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T00:52:11Z","timestamp":1772067131169,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":13,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,26]],"date-time":"2021-01-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1611619200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Background:<\/jats:bold> SARS-CoV-2-infected subjects have been proven contagious in the symptomatic, pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic phase. The identification of these patients is crucial in order to prevent virus circulation. No reliable data on the sensitivity of nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) are available because of the lack of a shared reference standard to identify SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. The aim of our study was to collect data on patients with a known diagnosis of COVID-19 who underwent serial testing to assess NPS sensitivity.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold> The study was a multi-center, observational, retrospective clinical study with consecutive enrollment. We enrolled patients who met all of the following inclusion criteria: clinical recovery, documented SARS-CoV-2 infection (\u22651 positive rRT-PCR result) and \u22651 positive NPS among the first two follow-up swabs. A positive NPS not preceded by a negative nasopharyngeal swab collected 24\u201348 h earlier was considered a true positive. A negative NPS followed by a positive NPS collected 24\u201348 h later was regarded as a false negative. The primary outcome was to define sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 detection with NPS.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold> Three hundred and ninety three NPS were evaluated in 233 patients; the sensitivity was 77% (95% CI, 73 to 81%). Sensitivity of the first follow-up NPS (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 233) was 79% (95% CI, 73 to 84%) with no significant variations over time. We found no statistically significant differences in the sensitivity of the first follow-up NPS according to time since symptom onset, age, sex, number of comorbidities, and onset symptoms.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions:<\/jats:bold> NPS utility in the diagnostic algorithm of COVID-19 should be reconsidered.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2020.593491","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,26]],"date-time":"2021-01-26T09:05:16Z","timestamp":1611651916000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Detection With Nasopharyngeal Swabs"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Bianca","family":"Clerici","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Muscatello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Francesca","family":"Bai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Donatella","family":"Pavanello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michela","family":"Orlandi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giulia C.","family":"Marchetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Valeria","family":"Castelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giovanni","family":"Casazza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giorgio","family":"Costantino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gian Marco","family":"Podda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30183-5","article-title":"Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China","volume":"395","author":"Huang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"362","DOI":"10.7326\/M20-3012","article-title":"Prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection: a narrative review","volume":"173","author":"Oran","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ann Intern Med"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1038\/s41591-020-0869-5","article-title":"Temporal dynamics in viral shedding and transmissibility of COVID-19","volume":"26","author":"He","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat Med."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"726","DOI":"10.7326\/M20-1301","article-title":"Diagnostic testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2: a narrative review","volume":"172","author":"Cheng","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ann Intern Med."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2020.3786","article-title":"Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in different types of clinical specimens","volume":"323","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA."},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045","article-title":"Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR","volume":"25","author":"Corman","year":"2020","journal-title":"Eurosurveillance."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/cclm-2020-0285","article-title":"Potential preanalytical and analytical vulnerabilities in the laboratory diagnosis of coronavirus disease (2019). 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