National Priority Programme of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
Wendy Stevens is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Vaccines. His research interests includes Vaccines. He is serving as an editorial member and reviewer of several international reputed journals. He has successfully completed his Administrative responsibilities. He has authored of many research articles/books related to Vaccines
Research Article
Comparison of Three Nasopharyngeal Swab Types and the Impact of Physiochemical Properties for Optimal SARS-CoV-2 Detection
Author(s): Trish R. Kahamba*, Lara Noble, Wendy Stevens and Lesley Scott
Adequate swab specimen collection, release and detection of nucleic acids by molecular diagnostic assays is largely
attributed to the physical and chemical characteristics of different swab types. We investigated properties of three
types of commercial nasopharyngeal swabs (nylon flocked: Type-1 Media Merge; Type-2 Kang Jian Medical Apparatus,
China and Type-3 Wuxi NEST Biotechnology Co. Ltd, China) used in clinical diagnostics with the aim to establish
if different swab designs and configurations had any effect on swab performance. Properties investigated included
viral absorption, release, capture, extraction and recovery efficiency from each swab for the detection of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). All swab types (n=18) were inoculated with different amounts
of SARS-CoV-2 live viral cultures (1:10, 1:100 and 1:1000 dilution) and e.. View more»