ArticleJAMA network open2021
Comparison of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Screening Using Reverse Transcriptase-Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction or CRISPR-Based Assays in Asymptomatic College Students.
Article in JAMA network open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Laboratory-based molecular test alternatives to RT-PCR for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Occurrence and transmission potential of asymptomatic and presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections: Update of a living systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Accuracy of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) to diagnose COVID-19, a meta-analysis.Microbial pathogenesis · 2022Pooled it
- The relationship between COVID-19 viral load and disease severity: A systematic review.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2022Pooled it
- CRISPR-Cas-Based Diagnostics in Biomedicine: Principles, Applications, and Future Trajectories.Biosensors · 2025Review
- Viral sepsis: diagnosis, clinical features, pathogenesis, and clinical considerations.Military Medical Research · 2024Review
- CRISPR-Cas Systems Associated with Electrolyte-Gated Graphene-Based Transistors: How They Work and How to Combine Them.Biosensors · 2024Review
- Diagnostics of COVID-19 Based on CRISPR-Cas Coupled to Isothermal Amplification: A Comparative Analysis and Update.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Molecular and antigen tests, and sample types for diagnosis of COVID-19: a review.Future virology · 2022Review
- Insights into Cardiovascular Defects and Cardiac Epigenome in the Context of COVID-19.Epigenomes · 2022Review
- Development of gold nanoparticle-based biosensors for COVID-19 diagnosis.Beni-Suef University journal of basic and applied sciences · 2022Review
- Sample-Pooling Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 Detection among Students and Staff of the University of Sannio.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
21 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Importance: The reopening of colleges and universities in the US during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a significant public health challenge. The development of accessible and practical approaches for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection in the college population is paramount for deploying recurrent surveillance testing as an essential strategy for virus detection, containment, and mitigation. Objective: To determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic participants in a university community by using CREST (Cas13-based, rugged, equitable, scalable testing), a CRISPR-based test developed for accessible and large-scale viral screening. Design, Setting, and Participants: For this cohort study, a total of 1808 asymptomatic participants were screened for SARS-CoV-2 using a CRISPR-based assay and a point-of-reference reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test. Viral prevalence in self-collected oropharyngeal swab samples collected from May 28 to June 11, 2020, and from June 23 to July 2, 2020, was evaluated. Exposures: Testing for SARS-CoV-2. Main Outcomes and Measures: SARS-CoV-2 status, viral load, and demographic information of the study participants were collected. Results: Among the 1808 participants (mean [SD] age, 27.3 [11.0] years; 955 [52.8%] female), 732 underwent testing from May to early June (mean [SD] age, 28.4 [11.7] years; 392 [53.6%] female). All test results in this cohort were negative. In contrast, 1076 participants underwent testing from late June to early July (mean [SD] age, 26.6 [10.5] years; 563 [52.3%] female), with 9 positive results by RT-qPCR. Eight of these positive samples were detected by the CRISPR-based assay and confirmed by Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified diagnostic testing. The mean (SD) age of the positive cases was 21.7 (3.3) years; all 8 individuals self-identified as students. These metrics showed that a CRISPR-based assay was effective at capturing positive SARS-CoV-2 cases in this student population. Notably, the viral loads detected in these asymptomatic cases resemble those seen in clinical samples, highlighting the potential of covert viral transmission. The shift in viral prevalence coincided with the relaxation of stay-at-home measures. Conclusions and Relevance: These findings reveal a shift in SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in a young and asymptomatic population and uncover the leading edge of a local outbreak that coincided with rising case counts in the surrounding county and the state of California. The concordance between CRISPR-based and RT-qPCR testing suggests that CRISPR-based assays are reliable and offer alternative options for surveillance testing and detection of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, as is required to resume operations in higher-education institutions in the US and abroad.
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