Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology / 2023 / Article / Tab 8 / Review Article
Comparing SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load in Human Saliva to Oropharyngeal Swabs, Nasopharyngeal Swabs, and Sputum: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Table 8 Study characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 viral load in oropharyngeal fluid combined with saliva indicated by copies/mL RNA.
Author Reference Study design Viral load (copies/mL RNA) SD and IQR Method to detect viral load Saliva sample source % SARS-CoV-2 positive Total cohort size Days onset Symptomatic Asymptomatic Gottsauner (2020) [59 ] Cross-sectional Mouth and throat median: 1.8 × 103 IQR: 3.1 × 102 –4.7 × 104 copies/mL RT-PCR Gargle mouth and throat with 20 mL 0.9% NaCl for 30 s 83 12 1–5 NR NR Mean: 1.8 × 104 SD: 4.02 × 104 Lyngbakken (2020) [60 ] Randomized controlled trial OPS (mean log10): 4.5 (3.17 × 104 copies/mL RNA) NR: SD copies/mL RNA RT-qPCR Swabs were rotated for ten seconds on posterior oropharyngeal mucosal membrane (over both tonsils, soft palate, and posterior oropharynx) 49 51 2 NR NR OPS (CT value mean): 34.54 SD OPS (CT value): 6.53 To (2020)[1 ] Observational cohort Posterior oropharyngeal saliva (median log10): 5.2 (1.59 × 105 copies/mL RNA) IQR: 4.1–7 RT-qPCR Coughing by clearing throat and saliva from intubated patients were obtained by endotracheal aspiration 87 23 0–30 NR NR
All median values, if present, are original and obtained from the publication.
Authors were contacted for the original dataset. NR = not reported, ND = not detected, NPS = nasopharyngeal swab, OPS = oropharyngeal swab, SD = standard deviation, and IQR = interquartile range.