Scientists have discovered that self-collected saliva and
deep nasal swabs collected by health care providers are equally effective for
detecting COVID-19, and it is hoped that self-collected saliva testing will
soon become available to hospitals and health care systems nationwide.
The collection process for saliva and anterior nasal
specimens is less invasive than the deep nasal, or nasopharyngeal, swab and
both specimen types can be self-collected, reducing the risk of exposure for
health care workers who collect nasopharyngeal specimens.
Newswise
August 20, 2020