Nasopharyngeal Expression of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 and Transmembrane Serine Protease 2 in Children within SARS-CoV-2-Infected Family Clusters.

Lower levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) in the nasal epithelium of children may be related to a lower incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, compared to adults. However, no direct evidence is available to support this hypothesis. In this study, we compared the transcript levels of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in nasopharyngeal swab samples ( = 234) from children and adult family members within SARS-CoV-2-exposed families and assessed the association with SARS-CoV-2 infection status.

Evaluation of automated molecular tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in pooled nasopharyngeal and saliva specimens.

Background: Pooling of samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing in low-prevalence settings has been used as an effective strategy to expand testing capacity and mitigate challenges with the shortage of supplies. We evaluated two automated molecular test systems for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in pooled specimens.

Methods: Pooled nasopharyngeal and saliva specimens were tested by Qiagen QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel (QIAstat) or Cepheid Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 (Xpert), and the results were compared to that of standard RT-qPCR tests without pooling.