Saliva RT-PCR test as 'effective' as swab test
The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has maintained that the saliva reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test is “as effective” as the nasopharyngeal swab test.
Citing the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Paulyn Ubial, who heads PRC's Molecular Laboratory, said in terms of specificity, the saliva test is 99 percent as compared with the RT-PCR swab test, which has a 99-percent specificity rate. While, the saliva test has 83-percent sensitivity rate, as compared with the nasal swab test’s 84-percent rate.
"Mayroon pong kalalabas lang po sa New England Journal of Medicine, na gumawa sila ng more than 338 meta-analysis of different validation studies on the saliva and swab test (The New England Journal of Medicine has just released its findings, they conducted more than 338 meta-analysis of different validation studies on the saliva and swab tests) ,” Ubial said in a radio interview.
“It showed us sensitivity of 83 percent for saliva, and 84 percent for swab test so magkapareho lang halos, and for the specificity, 99 percent sa saliva and 98.9 percent sa swab. So talagang statiscally speaking, malapit 'yung sensitivity by one percent and 'yung specificity by .1 percent so halos magkapantay po ang saliva at swab RT-PCR test (It showed us sensitivity of 83 percent for saliva, and 84 percent for swab test so they are almost the same, and for the specificity, 99 percent for saliva and 98.9 percent for swab. So statistically speaking, the sensitivity is by one percent and the specificity is by .1 percent so saliva and swab RT-PCR tests are almost equal.) ,” she explained.
In a radio interview, PRC Chairman Senator Richard Gordon urged Sunday. Feb. 7, the government to act “with sense of urgency” on calls to launch the saliva RT-PCR testing for public use.
He noted that many countries have been using the saliva RT-PCR test since last year. These include Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Australia and Thailand, he said.
Gordon said aside from SM Malls, the PRC is also in talks with the Araneta group of companies, Robinsons and even Puregold to expand its saliva testing services.
On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the PRC formally partnered with SM Supermalls for the drive-thru saliva RT-PCR collection sites in an effort to make such testing services more accessible to the public.