ArticlePloS one2020
Sample pooling methods for efficient pathogen screening: Practical implications.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Efficient high-risk human papillomavirus screening through pooled testing: a simulation study based on real-world data in low- and middle-income countries.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- DoBSeqWF: a framework for sensitive detection of individual genetic variation in pooled sequencing data.NAR genomics and bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Multiplex PCR for the differentiation ofCurrent research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2026Article
- De novo transcriptome assembly and gene expression analysis of Cnidium officinale under high-temperature conditions.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- The impact of pooling on the observed microbiome profile of preweaned piglet feces.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Article
- Can qPCR on pooled sheep milk detect brucellosis as part of herd brucellosis control and eradication programs?BMC veterinary research · 2025Article
- Investigating the prevalence of three medically important pathogens inFrontiers in parasitology · 2025Article
- Frequency of Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex Bacterial and Viral Agents Using Multiplex Real-Time qPCR in Quebec, Canada, from 2019 to 2023.Veterinary sciences · 2024Article
- A sensitive batch detection ofVirusdisease · 2024Article
- Molecular prevalence ofHeliyon · 2024Article
- Effective Methods of Estimation of Pathogen Prevalence in Pooled Ticks.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The COVID-19 laboratory response in Timor-Leste; a story of collaboration.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2023Review
- Combinatorial batching of DNA for ultralow-cost detection of pathogenic variants.Genome medicine · 2023Article
- Unravelling the Diversity and Abundance of the Red Fox (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Digital PCR Applications in the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Era: a Roadmap for Future Outbreaks.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2022Review
- Cost analysis of coronavirus disease 2019 test strategies using pooled reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction technique.Journal of clinical laboratory analysis · 2022Article
- Sample pooling strategies for SARS-CoV-2 detection.Journal of virological methods · 2021Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Due to the large number of negative tests, individually screening large populations for rare pathogens can be wasteful and expensive. Sample pooling methods improve the efficiency of large-scale pathogen screening campaigns by reducing the number of tests and reagents required to accurately categorize positive and negative individuals. Such methods rely on group testing theory which mainly focuses on minimizing the total number of tests; however, many other practical concerns and tradeoffs must be considered when choosing an appropriate method for a given set of circumstances. Here we use computational simulations to determine how several theoretical approaches compare in terms of (a) the number of tests, to minimize costs and save reagents, (b) the number of sequential steps, to reduce the time it takes to complete the assay, (c) the number of samples per pool, to avoid the limits of detection, (d) simplicity, to reduce the risk of human error, and (e) robustness, to poor estimates of the number of positive samples. We found that established methods often perform very well in one area but very poorly in others. Therefore, we introduce and validate a new method which performs fairly well across each of the above criteria making it a good general use approach.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.