Figure 2.
Comparison of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in professionally collected nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal (NOPS) swabs and in self-collected nasal and buccal swabs (n = 103). In patients who performed two buccal swabs (n = 24), the result of the first (fasting) swab was included. Horizontal lines represent the mean of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in log10. The RNA loads of SARS-CoV-2 were determined by a quantitative nucleic acid amplification test targeting the S-gene encoding the spike protein, of the virus. SARS-CoV-2 RNA load was analyzed by a mixed-effects model with post hoc Tukey adjustment. Dashed line: limit of detection. NOPS, nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.