Abstract:
Introduction: The recent outbreak of COVID-19 is a serious
global concern. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 led to a
current pandemic of unprecedented levels. Early detection
of the infection and prompt isolation of the cases are
fundamental for containment of such outbreak. By this time,
healthcare systems are facing shortages of reagents for
diagnosing this disease. In this context, sample pooling can
be an effective strategy to overcome this situation. This study
aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of sample pooling strategy
for RT-PCR tests for diagnosing and screening of COVID-
19 in mass population.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed at the
COVID-19 laboratory of Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
of Bangladesh to evaluate the efficacy of sample pooling
technique for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this
laboratory, nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs were
taken for the RT-PCR test to diagnose COVID-19. For each
patient, both nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal samples
were taken and then mixed to make a single sample. Pooling
was performed from the samples collected from 1 April 2020
to 30 April 2020. Total 350 samples were distributed randomly
in 70 pools, so that each pool contains 5 samples. Positive
pools were deconvulated and each sample was tested
separately. Screening was performed by using RT-PCR
targeting the ORF-1ab Region and N-gene.
Results: Out of 70 pools 16 (22.85%) were found positive.
Eighty samples of these 16 pools were tested individually
and 21 (21/80, 26.25%) samples were found positive. All the
positive pools were reproducible with testing of the individual
samples of that pool (100%).
Conclusion: Strategies of using pooled samples for screening
may facilitate detection of early community transmission of
SARS-CoV-2 and enable timely implementation of
appropriate infection control measures to reduce spread.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, RT-qPCR.
(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2020; 38: 16-20)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/jbcps.v38i0.47349