In January 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautioned the public against a peculiar method for testing oneself COVID-19 tests.
"FACT: When it comes to at-home rapid antigen #COVID19 tests, those swabs are for your nose and not your throat," the agency said Friday.
The anti-throat-swabbing warning came amid the first omicron surge in the United States. The reason? Anecdotal reports surfaced about people who were testing positive for COVID-19 only after they swabbed their throats. (A typical COVID-19 at-home test involves swabbing one's nose exclusively.)
Nearly seven months later, as the country faces yet another surge due to omicron subvariant BA.5, the FDA warning has yet to put an end to this off-label collection method. Anecdotal reports continue to surface on social media regarding symptomatic people who received negative results on an at-home test with nasal swabs, followed by a positive test only after they poked the back of their throat with the long swab instead.
Other countries' health agencies do call for testing one's throat for viral residue. Canadian provinces, including Ontario and Nova Scotia, have updated their recommendations for at-home testing to include swabs of both throat and nose.
"To collect a sample for a rapid antigen test (RATs), users should follow the instructions described in the kit insert," Ontario Health, a government health agency, advises in an information sheet updated in February 2022. "In addition to the collection method option approved by Health Canada (as described in the kit insert), users may choose to perform combined oral and nasal sampling as it may increase test sensitivity." The health agency proceeds to instruct people how to properly collect a sample from one's throat.
The collection method of throat swabbing remains a divisive issue among experts in infectious disease.
Despite the FDA's warning, many Americans are apt to wonder who to believe. Is this a collection method that does indeed "increase test sensitivity," as Ontario Health claims?
The answer depends on who's asked as the collection method of throat swabbing remains a divisive issue among experts in infectious disease.
Nathaniel Hafer, an assistant professor in molecular medicine at University of Massachusetts' Chan Medical School who has researched both at-home antigen tests and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, told Salon he believes it is best for people to follow the instructions of their specific test. In other words, if the test calls for throat swabbing, do it; if not, avoid it.
"I come down on the side that people should really do what's indicated in the test kit itself, which for all kits that are authorized in the U.S., the collection should be from the nose only," Hafer. "I think people should be following the instructions in the kits."
Yet Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center, disagreed. He told Salon via email he's been "recommending this for months" as in, swabbing one's throat when using an at-home tests "especially when sore throat is a prominent symptom."
As for lab-based PCR tests, Dr. Adalja said he doesn't recommend that physicians swab throats unless the instructions call for that method, which some do. For example, the Rheonix COVID-19 test does involve throat swabs. In other parts of the world, it is more common for PCR tests to be performed using throat swabs.
Going off-instructions could lead to some weird gray areas that raise new questions. For instance, say an individual swabs one's throat when doing an at-home test that doesn't call for throat swabbing and then tests positive. Does that imply the result would be inaccurate?
Hafer said there is some "anecdotal evidence" that the location of the tropisms of SARS-CoV-2 have changed over time with different variants.
"People are speculating that there's just more virus in the throat. I mean, that might be true, but the kits have not been tested for that kind of collection method, and so people might be getting actually true results," Hafer said. "But when people don't use the kids according to the instructions, they're opening the door to not get accurate results and that's both in the positive direction and the negative direction."
Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe toSalon's weekly newsletter The Vulgar Scientist.
William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Salon he believes when a person swabs their throat with an at-home antigen test and they're positive, that means definitively that they are indeed positive no question.
"They've been infected with the virus," Schaffner said. He noted that he thinks people should be following the test's instructions, but he's not surprised that people are swabbing their throats and getting positive test results.
"If you swab the throat, which is way in the back and you can consider that the back of the nose also, we call that the nasopharynx, way back there in the throat this is a virus that does cause sore throats, and indeed it gets down into your chest."
Indeed, as Schaffner pointed out, if the virus is lingering in the cavity where the nose and throat meet that is likely why positive results are appearing after throat swabs.
Notably, most of this adviceis based anecdotal reports. There have not been any scientific papers with peer-reviewed evidence that confirm or deny the efficacy of throat swabbing with at-home tests that don't call for it. One study,published on medRxiv by researchers in Cape Town, South Africa, concluded that saliva swabs were the preferred sample-collection method for detecting omicron infections.
In the meantime, everyday people may take it upon themselves to swab their throats when self-testing. If that yields a positive result, it's time to contact a doctor and isolate from people.
In that scenario, "they should obviously contact their healthcare provider, particularly if they're in a high risk group," Schaffner said.
Here is the original post:
Experts still torn on whether you should swab your throat when taking COVID tests - Salon
- Exercise promotes a molecular profile in muscle: Research - January 21st, 2023
- Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory < Laboratory Medicine - January 4th, 2023
- Molecular cloning - Wikipedia - December 18th, 2022
- Trends in Molecular Medicine | Journal - ScienceDirect - December 10th, 2022
- Researchers from Insilico Medicine, University of Copenhagen, and University of Chicago unravel molecular secrets hidden in premature aging diseases... - December 2nd, 2022
- Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Week: October 2-8, 2022 - October 29th, 2022
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Medicine - October 29th, 2022
- Cellular and Molecular Medicine | Faculty of Medicine - October 21st, 2022
- Molecular Diagnostics > Fact Sheets > Yale Medicine - October 21st, 2022
- Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine | Cambridge Core - October 13th, 2022
- UT Southwestern ranked top health care institution globally for published research by Nature Index - UT Southwestern - October 13th, 2022
- Common Antibiotics Are Losing Their Potency. Researchers Pinpoint Mechanism to Restore It. - NYU Langone Health - October 13th, 2022
- expert reaction to study looking at integrating human stem cell-derived brain-like tissue in the brains of newborn rats - Science Media Centre - October 13th, 2022
- HTG Provides Update on Third Quarter Progress Toward Its Transcriptome-Informed Approach to Drug Discovery - Yahoo Finance - October 13th, 2022
- UVA Discovers Key Driver of High Blood Pressure - UVA Health Newsroom - October 13th, 2022
- Postdoctoral Fellow in Lung Cancer Genomics job with NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - NTNU | 311727 - Times Higher Education - October 13th, 2022
- Common cold may increase the risk of long Covid - Earth.com - October 13th, 2022
- Caris' Precision Oncology Alliance Welcomes The Cancer Institute at The University of Tennessee Medical Center - PR Newswire - October 13th, 2022
- Merus Announces Publication of Abstract on MCLA-129 at the 34th EORTC/NCI/AACR (ENA) Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics - Yahoo... - October 13th, 2022
- Molecular Test Could Improve Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer - Technology Networks - October 13th, 2022
- UTSW researchers identify key player in cellular response to stress - EurekAlert - October 4th, 2022
- New Antibody Demonstrates Therapeutic Benefits Against Alzheimers - SciTechDaily - October 4th, 2022
- Mount Sinai study uncovers mechanisms of reactive oxygen species in stem cell function and inflammation prevention - EurekAlert - October 4th, 2022
- NovoPath Pushes the Limits of Laboratory Information Systems with Integrated Workflows for Genetic and Molecular Testing - PR Newswire - October 4th, 2022
- Postdoctoral Fellow in Bioinformatics job with NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - NTNU | 311073 - Times Higher Education - October 4th, 2022
- Breast Cancer Awareness | Nick Jacobs | An unlikely partnership: The United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Joyce Murtha Breast... - October 4th, 2022
- Tackling resistance to HIF2 drugs with an RNA-based therapy - UT Southwestern - October 4th, 2022
- OncoNano Medicine Announces Positive Phase 2 Data for Pegsitacianine as an adjunct to Cytoreductive Surgery of Peritoneal Carcinomatosis - Business... - October 4th, 2022
- SIMATS organizes Induction Ceremony - Afternoonnews - Afternoon News - October 4th, 2022
- ExPath Grad Student Madeline Mayday Awarded Grant from the NIDDK Cooperative Centers of Excellence in Hematology - Yale School of Medicine - September 25th, 2022
- Blood Cancer Discovery Publication Further Validates Exscientia's AI Precision Medicine Platform for Improving Patient Outcomes - Business Wire - September 25th, 2022
- New Startups Built From UC Davis Innovations Drive Solutions in Food, Health and Agriculture - University of California, Davis - September 25th, 2022
- Scientists Discover New Cancer Treatment - The Morning News - September 25th, 2022
- Rewriting the Textbook for Precision Medicine - Technology Networks - September 25th, 2022
- Biden says 'The pandemic is over,' but health experts disagree - Chief Healthcare Executive - September 25th, 2022
- Discovery Illuminates How Parkinson's Disease Spreads in The Brain - Weill Cornell Medicine Newsroom - September 25th, 2022
- AI Used to Determine Cause of Alzheimer's and Related Disorders - Inside Precision Medicine - September 25th, 2022
- Looking Ahead in the Treatment of Breast Cancer - Targeted Oncology - September 25th, 2022
- Researchers identify potential biomarker to distinguish two aggressive types of brain tumors in children - EurekAlert - September 25th, 2022
- New study reveals breakthrough infections increase immunity to COVID-19 - OHSU News - September 25th, 2022
- Coronavirus Today: Who's dying of COVID-19 now? - Los Angeles Times - September 25th, 2022
- Hoag Named Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Center of Excellence, Publishes Results of Breast and Prostate Cancer Trials - PR Newswire - September 8th, 2022
- Orbital Therapeutics Launches to Advance New Frontiers of Science with the Next Generation of Innovative RNA Medicines - Yahoo Finance - September 8th, 2022
- Scientists urged the Biden administration to launch an Operation Warp Speed to develop inhaled COVID vaccines. China beat the U.S. to the punch -... - September 8th, 2022
- Foundation Medicine to Share 14 Abstracts at the 2022 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress Demonstrating the Power of Genomic... - September 8th, 2022
- Monte Rosa Therapeutics Announces FDA Clearance of Investigational New Drug Application for MRT-2359, a GSPT1-directed Molecular Glue Degrader Phase... - September 8th, 2022
- Biden administration says the once-a-year shot phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has arrived - The Boston Globe - September 8th, 2022
- ICCBS welcomes students of MPhil and PhD Programs 2022 - The Academia Mag - September 8th, 2022
- Exciting PhD positions at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) job with EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY LABORATORY (EMBL) | 308114 - Times... - September 8th, 2022
- Congratulations to our NRF award winners | UCT News - University of Cape Town News - September 8th, 2022
- Patients with some forms of aggressive esophageal cancers may benefit from treatment targeting how cells self-regulate - EurekAlert - September 8th, 2022
- Molecular Medicine (M.Sc.) - Georg-August-Universitt Gttingen - August 30th, 2022
- Gradalis Announces Publication in Nature Communications Medicine Identifying Survival Predicting Biomarker in Patients with Ovarian Cancer Treated... - August 30th, 2022
- Feinstein Institutes Get $3M From Lupus Research Alliance to Study Remission and Future Therapies - Business Wire - August 30th, 2022
- Unlocking the Power of Precision Medicine the Rheumatology Example - Technology Networks - August 30th, 2022
- When to trust your covid test results and when to question them | Mint - Mint - August 30th, 2022
- Molecular Diagnostics Market Report 2022-2030: Increasing Adoption of Point-Of-Care (Poc) Testing and the Development of Novel Assays Presents... - August 30th, 2022
- Advancing Precision Oncology, Ochsner Health First to Fully Integrate with Tempus and Epic's Genomics Module - Newswise - August 30th, 2022
- Tiny, Touch-Based Sensor Could Help Patients Stay on Top of Their Medications - SciTechDaily - August 30th, 2022
- Stellar Scholars Join CLAS Faculty - UConn Today - University of Connecticut - August 30th, 2022
- COVID-19 gave new urgency to the science of restoring smell - Science News Magazine - August 30th, 2022
- Dr. Sun lab wins R01 from National Institutes of Health to study liver proteins - Wayne State University - August 22nd, 2022
- Pasithea Therapeutics to Present Results of Tolerizing Vaccine Program at Prestigious International Immunotherapy Conference - GlobeNewswire - August 22nd, 2022
- New Study Identifies How A Group Of Genes Are Linked To Behavioral Conditions - Forbes - August 22nd, 2022
- New gene variant that protects against coronary heart disease uncovered - EurekAlert - August 22nd, 2022
- How a Japanese Herbal Medicine Protects the Gut Against Inflammatory Bowel Disease - Neuroscience News - August 22nd, 2022
- Insilico Medicine presents on AI for drug discovery at 9th Annual Aging Research and Drug Discovery Conference - EurekAlert - August 22nd, 2022
- Why polio is back on the radar of Canadian health officials - Brighter World - August 22nd, 2022
- Angela DeMichele, MD, MSCE, Assesses the Value of I-SPY2 for Neoadjuvant Treatment of Early Breast Cancer - Cancer Network - August 22nd, 2022
- Exciting PhD positions at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) job with EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY LABORATORY (EMBL) | 304753 - Times... - August 22nd, 2022
- Sensor could help patients stay on top of their meds - EurekAlert - August 22nd, 2022
- Trivitron Healthcare launches CoE in metabolomics, genomics, newborn screening and molecular diagnostics - Express Healthcare - August 22nd, 2022
- Research Trends of Moxibustion Therapy for Pain Treatment Over the Pas | JPR - Dove Medical Press - August 22nd, 2022
- Edited Transcript of EXAI.OQ earnings conference call or presentation 18-Aug-22 12:30pm GMT - Yahoo Finance - August 22nd, 2022
- Roche launches COVID-19 test that detects and differentiates the emerging variant of interest BA.2.75 - PR Newswire - August 22nd, 2022
- Will Omicron BA.5 Be the Last of the COVID Variants? - The Epoch Times - August 22nd, 2022
- Many Paths to Failure | Harvard Medical School - Harvard Medical School - August 5th, 2022
- Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Linked to Heart Disease Risk - University of California San Diego - August 5th, 2022
- UC Davis Sets a New Record, Surpasses $1 Billion in Research Funding - University of California, Davis - August 5th, 2022
- A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19 - Nature.com - August 5th, 2022