New Research: When patients swab themselves for Covid-19 testing

The 30 study participants previously had tested positive for Covid-19. (File Photo)

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have suggested that people can be taught to do their own nasal swabs for accurate Covid-19 testing. In the Journal of the American Medical Association, they have reported that samples collected by people who swabbed their own nasal passages yielded results that were as accurate as samples collected by a doctor.

The 30 study participants previously had tested positive for Covid-19. Provided with instructions, they collected their own specimens at Stanford by swabbing both nostrils. Then, a physician collected two additional samples from the nose and throat. All three samples were tested for the presence of the coronavirus.

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Of the 30 participants, 29 (11 positive, 18 negative) received identical results for the three samples. One person’s self-collected swab tested positive, whereas the physician-collected two swabs tested negative.

Source: Stanford Medicine