Performance of saliva as a specimen to detect SARS-CoV-2.

Massive testing to detect SARS-CoV-2 is an imperious need in times of epidemic but also presents challenges in terms of its concretization. The use of saliva as an alternative to nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) has advantages, being more friendly to the patient and not requiring trained health workers, so much needed in other functions. This study used a total of 452 dual samples (saliva and NPS) of patients suspected of having COVID-19 to compare results obtained for the different specimens when using RT-PCR of RNA extracted from NPS and saliva, as well as saliva directly without RNA extraction.