EFFECTIVENESS OF PCR POOL TESTING FOR SCREENING OF COVID-19 INFECTION IN PAKISTAN

Authors

  • Nasir Ahmad Public health Reference Lab, Khyber Medical University
  • Azra IBMS, Khyber Medical University Peshawar
  • Hafsah Muhammad IBMS, Khyber Medical University Peshawar
  • Ishaq N Khan IBMS, Khyber Medical University Peshawar
  • Sami Siraj IBMS, Khyber Medical University Peshawar
  • Sajjad Ahmad IBMS, Khyber Medical University Peshawar
  • Muhammad Zakria IBMS, Khyber Medical University Peshawar
  • Asif Ali IPDM, Khyber Medical University Peshawar
  • Yasar Mehmood Yousafzai IPDM, Khyber Medical University Peshawar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55519/JAMC-04-10294

Keywords:

Pooling, Pool testing, RT-PCR, COVID, SARS-CoV-2.

Abstract

Background: We tested the utility of mini-pool PCR testing for the rational use of PCR consumables in screening for CoViD-19. Methods: After pilot experiments, 3-samples pool size was selected. One-step RT-PCR was performed. The samples in the mini-pool having COVID gene amplification were tested individually. Results: 1548 samples tested in 516 mini-pools resulted 396 mini-pools as negative and 120 as positive. Upon individual testing, 110 samples tested positive and 9 were inconclusive. 876 PCR reactions were performed to test 1548 samples, saving 43% PCR reagents. Centres with low prevalence resulted in most saving on reagents (50%), while centres with high prevalence resulted in more test reactions. Testing of individual samples resulted in delays in reporting. Conclusion: Pooling can increase lab capacity, however, pooling delays results and cause degradation of samples.

References

Ng Y, Li Z, Chua YX, Chaw WL, Zhao Z, Er B, et al. Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Surveillance and Containment Measures for the First 100 Patients with COVID-19 in Singapore - January 2-February 29, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69(11):307-11.

Kucharski AJ, Klepac P, Conlan A, Kissler SM, Tang M, Fry H, et al. Effectiveness of isolation, testing, contact tracing and physical distancing on reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in different settings. Lancet Infect Dis 2020;20(10):1151-60.

Esfandiari S, Wuhan C. Faces such a shortage of coronavirus test-kits that people say getting one is like winning the lottery. Business Insider. 2020.

Ramsey L, Woodward A. The US is struggling to test more people for the coronavirus. Now it's facing a shortage of the materials used to run those tests. Business Insider. 2020.

Mathur A, Shah J, Shah R, Shah P, Harimoorthy V, Choudhury N, et al. A study on optimization of plasma pool size for viral infectious markers in Indian blood donors using nucleic acid amplification testing. Asian J Transfus Sci 2012;6(1):50-2.

Abdalhamid B, Bilder CR, McCutchen EL, Hinrichs SH, Koepsell SA, Iwen PC. Assessment of specimen pooling to conserve SARS CoV-2 testing resources. Am J Clin Pathol 2020;153(6):715-8.

Arnold M, Slomka M, Coward V, Mahmood S, Raleigh P, Brown I. Evaluation of the pooling of swabs for real-time PCR detection of low titre shedding of low pathogenicity avian influenza in turkeys. Epidemiol Infect 2013;141(6):1286-97.

Cherif A, Grobe N, Wang X, Kotanko P. Simulation of pool testing to identify patients with coronavirus disease 2019 under conditions of limited test availability. JAMA Netw Open 2020;3(6):e2013075.

Li H, Sun K, Persing DH, Tang YW, Shen D. Real-time Screening of Specimen Pools for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection at Sanya Airport, Hainan Island, China. Clin Infect Dis 2021;73(2):318-20.

Wacharapluesadee S, Kaewpom T, Ampoot W, Ghai S, Khamhang W, Worachotsueptrakun K, et al. Evaluating the efficiency of specimen pooling for PCR-based detection of COVID-19. J Med Virol 2020;92(10):2193-9.

Hirotsu Y, Maejima M, Shibusawa M, Nagakubo Y, Hosaka K, Amemiya K, et al. Pooling RT-qPCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 in 1000 individuals of healthy and infection-suspected patients. Sci Rep 2020;10(1):18899.

Shental N, Levy S, Wuvshet V, Skorniakov S, Shalem B, Ottolenghi A, et al. Efficient high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 testing to detect asymptomatic carriers. Sci Adv 2020;6(37):eabc5961.

Yelin I, Aharony N, Tamar ES, Argoetti A, Messer E, Berenbaum D, et al. Evaluation of COVID-19 RT-qPCR Test in Multi sample Pools. Clin Infect Dis 2020;71(16):2073-8.

Hanel R, Thurner S. Boosting test-efficiency by pooled testing strategies for SARS-CoV-2. ArXiv Preprint ArXiv 2020;2003:09944.

Sharma R, Goyal S, Bist P. Optimal sample pooling: an efficient tool against SARS-CoV-2. medRxiv 2020;7(3):20145953.

Mulu A, Alemayehu DH, Alemu F, Tefera DA, Wolde S, Aseffa G, et al. Evaluation of Sample Pooling for Screening of SARS-CoV-2. medRxiv 2020;6(10):20123398.

de Wolff T, Pflüger D, Rehme M, Heuer J, Bittner MI. Evaluation of Pool-Based Testing Approaches to Enable Population-wide Screening for COVID-19. PLoS One 2020;15(12):e0243692.

Watkins AE, Fenichel EP, Weinberger DM, Vogels CB, Brackney DE, Casanovas-Massana A, et al. Pooling saliva to increase SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity. medRxiv 2020;9(2):20183830.

Bukhari SUK, Khalid SS, Syed A, Shah SSH. Smart Pooled sample Testing for COVID-19: A Possible Solution for Sparsity of Test Kits. medRxiv 2020;4(21):20044594.

Parodi SM, Liu VX. From Containment to Mitigation of COVID-19 in the US. JAMA 2020;323(15):1441-2.

Downloads

Published

2022-09-27

How to Cite

Ahmad, N., Azra, Muhammad, H., Khan, I. N., Siraj, S., Ahmad, S. ., … Yasar Mehmood Yousafzai. (2022). EFFECTIVENESS OF PCR POOL TESTING FOR SCREENING OF COVID-19 INFECTION IN PAKISTAN. Journal of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad, 34(4), 821–826. https://doi.org/10.55519/JAMC-04-10294

Most read articles by the same author(s)

<< < 1 2 3 > >> 

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.