What does saliva test COVID-19 mean?

Saliva test COVID-19 is a nucleic acid test based on COVID-19. By collecting saliva samples from patients, nucleic acid fragments were detected and analyzed in the laboratory to determine whether they were infected by COVID-19. Compared with traditional throat swab sampling or nasal swab sampling, saliva sampling is simpler, non-invasive and painless, which reduces the comfort and pain of patients.

Saliva COVID-19 has great advantages in the accuracy and reliability of test results, especially among special people, such as the elderly, children and mentally retarded people. Sampling is more convenient, and it is not easy to cause injury or other discomfort. In addition, saliva samples will not be confused, and the risk of aggregation in other samples is small, which effectively reduces the risk of cross-infection in the measurement process.

Although saliva detection is outstanding in COVID-19 detection, its detection method is still in the development stage. At present, technical guidance of relevant laboratories and strict control of operating procedures are still needed to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the test results. In addition, saliva detection can not completely replace other detection methods, such as nucleic acid detection, CT scanning and serum antibody detection. It needs to be evaluated and selected according to the doctor's judgment and the patient's specific situation.