ArticleThe Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD2021
Prolonged Unfrozen Storage and Repeated Freeze-Thawing of SARS-CoV-2 Patient Samples Have Minor Effects on SARS-CoV-2 Detectability by RT-PCR.
Article in The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- A multicenter study to assess the performance of the point-of-care RT-PCR Cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B nucleic acid test for use on the Cobas Liat system in comparison with centralized assays across healthcare facilities in the United States.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2025Article
- Enhancing public health surveillance: a comparative study of platform-specific and hybrid assembly approaches in SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing.Microbial genomics · 2025Article
- Considerations for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Genomic Surveillance: A Joint Consensus Recommendation of the Association for Molecular Pathology and Association of Public Health Laboratories.The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD · 2025Review
- Comprehensive Review on Viral RNA Extraction Strategies for Enhanced Molecular Diagnostics.Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases · 2025Review
- Testing of tissue specimens obtained from SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal swab-positive donors.Cell and tissue banking · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load in the Nasopharynx at Time of First Infection Among Unvaccinated Individuals: A Secondary Cross-Protocol Analysis of 4 Randomized Trials.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Development of a mobile laboratory system in hydrogen fuel cell buses and evaluation of the performance for COVID-19 RT-PCR testing.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Surveillance of Vermont wildlife in 2021-2022 reveals no detected SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Clinical Validation of GenBody COVID-19 Ag, Nasal and Nasopharyngeal Rapid Antigen Tests for Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in European Adult Population.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by saliva and nasopharyngeal sampling in frontline healthcare workers: An observational cohort study.PloS one · 2023Observational
- Evaluation of the impact of pre-analytical conditions on sample stability for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA.Journal of virological methods · 2022Article
- Chikungunya Virus Shedding in Semen: A Case Series.Viruses · 2022Article
- Clinical Performance of the cobas Liat SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B Assay in Nasal Samples.Molecular diagnosis & therapy · 2022Article
- SARS-CoV-2 in residential rooms of two self-isolating persons with COVID-19.Journal of aerosol science · 2022Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostics Based on Nucleic Acids Amplification: From Fundamental Concepts to Applications and Beyond.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- Duration of respiratory sample stability at -80ºC for SARS-CoV-2 PCR.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2022Article
- Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Reliable transportation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) patient samples from a swabbing station to a diagnostics facility is essential for accurate results. Therefore, cooling or freezing the samples is recommended in case of longer transportation times. In this study, SARS-CoV-2 detectability by RT-PCR was assessed after prolonged unfrozen storage or repetitive freeze-thawing of SARS-CoV-2 samples. SARS-CoV-2-positive patient swabs stored in viral transport medium were exposed to different temperatures (4°C, 25°C, and 35°C) and to repetitive freeze-thawing, to assess the effect of storage conditions on RT-PCR detection. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was still reliably detected by RT-PCR after 21 days of storage in viral transport medium, even when the samples had been stored at 35°C. The maximum observed change in cycle threshold value per day was 0.046 (±0.019) at 35°C, and the maximum observed change in cycle threshold value per freeze-thaw cycle per day was 0.197 (±0.06). Compared with storage at 4°C, viral RNA levels deviated little but significantly when stored at 25°C or 35°C, or after repeated freeze-thawing. The results of this study indicate that viral RNA levels are relatively stable at higher temperatures and repetitive freeze-thawing.
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