Table 1.

Comparison of detections of respiratory viruses by RT-PCR in nasal wash versus foam nasal swab samples collected with saline spray^a

Respiratory virusb	No. of virus detections			Sensitivity, % (95% CI)		P value
	Both positive	NW positive, NS negative	NS positive, NW negative	NW	NS with saline spray
RSV	3	0	0	100	100
Flu A	7	0	0	100	100
Flu B	2	0	1	67	100
HMPV	2	0	0	100	100
PIV (types 1–4)	6	0	1	86	100
HCoV (4 types)	13	1	4	78	94
HRV	39	2	4	91	96
AdV	1	1	1	67	67
HBoV	0	0	0
Totalc	73	4	11	88 (79–93)	95 (88–98)	0.06

^aShown are results from 121 immunocompetent subjects during 146 incident upper respiratory infections.

^bRSV, respiratory syncytial virus; Flu, influenza virus; HMPV, human metapneumovirus; PIV, parainfluenza virus; HCoV, human coronaviruses (OC43, 229E, NL63, and HKU1); HRV, human rhinoviruses; AdV, adenovirus; and HBoV, human bocavirus.

^cA total of 60 swab pairs were negative in both samples; 86 pairs were positive in at least 1 swab, with 2 viruses detected in 2 swab pairs.