ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2021
Self-Collected Saline Gargle Samples as an Alternative to Health Care Worker-Collected Nasopharyngeal Swabs for COVID-19 Diagnosis in Outpatients.
Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
73 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 107 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sensitivity of gargle samples compared to swabs for SARS-CoV-2 detection with nucleic acid amplification testing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Virology journal · 2026Pooled it
- The effect of sample site and collection procedure on identification of SARS-CoV-2 infection.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Double-Negative Results Matter: A Reevaluation of Sensitivities for Detecting SARS-CoV-2 Infection Using Saliva Versus Nasopharyngeal Swabs.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- Performance of saline and water gargling for SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcriptase PCR testing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2022Pooled it
- The Sensitivity and Costs of Testing for SARS-CoV-2 Infection With Saliva Versus Nasopharyngeal Swabs : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Annals of internal medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Comparison of Saliva and Nasopharyngeal Swab Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing for Detection of SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA internal medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Oral mouthwashes for asymptomatic to mildly symptomatic adults with COVID-19 and salivary viral load: a randomized, placebo-controlled, open-label clinical trial.BMC oral health · 2024Trial
- Comparison of Four Active SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance Strategies in Representative Population Sample Points: Two-Factor Factorial Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Trial
- The role of mouthwash sampling in SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2021Trial
- Oral-gut microbiome dysbiosis in obese smokers reveals compartment-specific shifts.AMB Express · 2026Article
- A qualitative descriptive study exploring perspectives on a school-based take-home COVID-19 saliva testing program.Paediatrics & child health · 2026Article
- Detection of Respiratory Pathogens in Saliva and Mouthwash Samples in Children.Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society · 2025Article
- Diagnostic value comparative analysis of the commercial kits for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Iranian journal of microbiology · 2025Review
- Saline gargle collection method is comparable to nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabbing for the molecular detection and sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in Botswana.Microbiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Intrinsic immunogenicity is a major determinant of type-specific responses in SARS-CoV-2 infections.Nature immunology · 2025Article
- Assessment of species distribution and virulence factors of oral fungal carriage among hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a case-control study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2024Article
- Clinical Performance of Self-Collected Purified Water Gargle for Detection of Influenza a Virus Infection by Real-Time RT-PCR.Infection and drug resistance · 2024Article
- Prospective, clinical comparison of self-collected throat-bilateral nares swabs and saline gargle compared to health care provider collected nasopharyngeal swabs among symptomatic outpatients with potential SARS-CoV-2 infection.Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2024Article
- Comparison of Manual versus Automated SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Testing in Asymptomatic Individuals.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Preprocedural Viral Load Effects of Oral Antiseptics on SARS-CoV-2 in Patients with COVID-19: A Systematic Review.Biomedicines · 2023Review
13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We assessed the performance, stability, and user acceptability of swab-independent self-collected saliva and saline mouth rinse/gargle sample types for the molecular detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in adults and school-aged children. Outpatients who had recently been diagnosed with COVID-19 or were presenting with suspected COVID-19 were asked to have a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab collected and provide at least one self-collected sample type. Participants were also asked about sample acceptability using a five-point Likert scale. For those previously diagnosed with COVID-19, all samples underwent real-time PCR testing using a lab-developed assay, and the majority were also tested using an FDA-authorized assay. For those presenting with suspected COVID-19, only those with a positive nasopharyngeal swab sample went on to have other samples tested. Saline mouth rinse/gargle and saliva samples were tested daily at time zero, day 1, and day 2 to assess nucleic acid stability at room temperature. Fifty participants (aged 4 to 71 years) were included; of these, 40 had at least one positive sample and were included in the primary sample yield analysis. Saline mouth rinse/gargle samples had a sensitivity of 98% (39/40), while saliva samples had a sensitivity of 79% (26/33). Both saline mouth rinse/gargle and saliva samples showed stable viral RNA detection after 2 days of room temperature storage. Mouth rinse/gargle samples had the highest (mean, 4.9) and health care worker (HCW)-collected NP swabs had the lowest acceptability scores (mean, 3.1). In conclusion, saline mouth rinse/gargle samples demonstrated higher combined user acceptability ratings and analytical performance than saliva and HCW-collected NP swabs. This sample type is a promising swab-independent option, particularly for outpatient self-collection in adults and school-aged children.
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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.