To further investigate the potential of UPT in comparison to standard
diagnostic sampling, UPTs of 20 patients with symptoms of ARTI were
analyzed in parallel with self-collected nasal swabs in UTM. Sixteen of
these patients performed an Ag-RDT on the same day. Results are listed
in Table 2. Pathogens that were detected in the nasal swabs were also
detected in the corresponding UPT, with the exception of one case where
EV/RV was detected only in the nasal swab (Cq 36.6) of a patient who
also tested positive for influenza B in both nasal swab (Cq 19.3) and
UPT (Cq 26.6) (RP015). The Cq measured in the UPT was usually higher
than in the nasal swab, although in some cases it was the other way
round (Fig. 1). In all cases where the Ag-RDT tested positive, the
corresponding pathogen was also detectable in the UPT. In 4 cases, both
the UPT and the nasal swab tested negative with our respiratory panel.
Table 2. Identification of respiratory pathogens in used paper
tissues versus nasal swabs and antigen tests (nā=ā20 samples).