Table 2. Comparison between the mean Ct values of individual test and pool test in different pool combinations.
| Pool of 8 RNA samples | E gene detection | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pool combinations | Total Number of Pools | Not detected in number of pools | Mean of ID test Ct value (± SD) | Mean of Pool test Ct value (± SD) | P value |
| 1 positive + 7 negative | 11 | 1 | 33.1 (±3.3) | 35.6 (±3.3) | 0.04 |
| 2 positive + 6 negative | 5 | 0 | 30.4 (±3.7) | 33(±3.1) | 0.13 |
| 3 positive + 5 negative | 5 | 0 | 34.2 (±3.7) | 34.9(±2.6) | 0.58 |
| 4 positive + 4 negative | 1 | 0 | 31.7 (± 4.6) | 31.7 | - |
| 8 negative | 13 | 13 | NA | - | |
| Total | 35 | 14 | |||
Ct: cycle threshold, RNA: ribonucleic acid, ID: individual