Pooling samples could accelerate new coronavirus testing

Pooling samples could accelerate new coronavirus testing

(Web Desk) - Virologists from Germany have shown that combining samples and only testing individual samples if there is a positive result for the group could massively increase the capacity for coronavirus testing.

Testing has been a major limiting factor in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthcare systems across the world have been struggling to cope with the demand for testing, with many countries having insufficient capacity even to test healthcare workers. Laboratory infrastructure is stretched and, in some cases, completely overwhelmed by the pandemic.

Scientists from Germany, which has had an admirable testing capacity, have published details of a testing strategy that they say could massively increase capacity in laboratories around the world.

The strategy involves pooling samples from multiple people and only testing individual samples if the result from the group test is positive. This could potentially save thousands of unnecessary tests.

It is important to caution that although this method provides “sufficient diagnostic accuracy,” the scientists do say that it might not detect “borderline positive” samples in large pools.

A person might have a “borderline positive” result if they contracted the infection 2 or 3 weeks before undergoing the test and are now recovering.

To avoid missing diagnoses such as these, the scientists recommend choosing an appropriate pool size for different infection scenarios and pooling fewer samples if there may be borderline cases in the cohort.