Table 2. Cycle threshold (Ct) values observed with three homogenization methods following mixture of identical volumes of a 1:10 or 1:1,000 dilution of inactivated MERS-CoV culture with sputum samples.

Homogenization by	N	1:10 diluted cell culture		1:1,000 diluted cell culture
		upE	ORF1a	upE	ORF1a
PK-DNase 1	3	17.6/20.9/20.2*	18.1/21.1/20.4	34.2/34.6/34.3	35.7/35.6/35.8
PBS	3	23.4/26.3/28.0	22.5/26.1/27.2	34.6/34.4/Neg	35.3/35.8/Neg
NALC-sodium citrate	3	23.0/25.6/26.0	22.5/25.6/26.0	35.6/33.0/34.9	37.6/34.1/36.1

^*The 3 sputum samples shown include 1 saliva-like sputum sample, 1 non-purulent sputum sample, and 1 purulent sputum sample, with the results shown in this order.

Abbreviations: NALC, N-acetyl-L-cysteine; Neg, negative; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; PK, proteinase K.