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. 2021 Jan 9;18:13. doi: 10.1186/s12985-021-01489-0

Table 2.

Evaluation of 49 patients (101 swabs) with discordant COVID-19 testing and confirmatory testing results

Swab 1 (n = 49 swabs) Swab 2 (n = 49 swabs) Swab 3 (n = 3 swabs)c
NP swab in UTM (%) 29 (59.2) 32 (65.3) 2 (66.7)
Deep nasal turbinate swab (%) 20 (40.8) 9 (18.4) 1 (33.3)
Oropharyngeal swab (%) 0 8 (16.3) 0

Original swab test resulta

(E gene Ct median; range)

(RdRp gene Ct median; range)

49 negative

46 positive

3 negative

(19.5; 13.0–35.5)

(22.4; 16.2–37.8)

3 positive

0 negative

(13.9; 12.5–24.7)

(16.5; 14.8–28.0)

Positive result on E gene assayb

(Ct range)

5/49

(34.1–37.9)

0/3 ND

Positive result on CDC N1 assayb

(Ct range)

2/49

(32.7–35.9)

0/3 ND

Positive result on CDC N2 assayb

(Ct range)

5/49

(33.2–38.8)

0/3 ND

Ct cycle threshold (cycles), E envelope, LDT laboratory developed test, ND not done, NP nasopharyngeal, RdRp RNA dependent RNA polymerase, UTM universal transport media

aTesting done using E gene/RdRp gene LDT SARS-CoV-2 rtRT-PCR

bRepeat testing conducted only on negative swabs to evaluate for false-negative results

cOnly 3 of 49 patients had a third swab done