Smartphone screen testing, a novel pre-diagnostic method to identify SARS-CoV-2 infectious individuals
Young, Rodrigo M. (University College London. Institute of Ophthalmology)
Solis, Camila J. (Diagnosis Biotech)
Barriga-Fehrman, Andres (Diagnosis Biotech)
Abogabir, Carlos (Diagnosis Biotech)
Thadani, Alvaro R. (Diagnosis Biotech)
Labarca, Mariana (Diagnosis Biotech)
Bustamante, Eva (Grupo Oncológico Cooperativo Chileno de Investigación)
Tapia, Cecilia V (Clínica Dávila)
Sarda, Antonia G. (Clínica Dávila)
Sepulveda, Francisca (Clínica Dávila)
Pozas, Nadia (Clínica Dávila)
Cerpa, Leslie C. (University of Chile. Department of Basic and Clinical Oncology)
Lavanderos, María A. (University of Chile. Department of Basic and Clinical Oncology)
Varela, Nelson M. (University of Chile. Department of Basic and Clinical Oncology)
Santibañez, Alvaro (Universidad de Chile. Programa Disciplinario de Inmunología)
Sandino, Ana María (Universidad de Santiago de Chile. Departamento de Biología)
Reyes-López, Felipe E. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fisiologia i d'Immunologia)
Dixon, Garth (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fisiologia i d'Immunologia)
Quiñones, Luis A. (University of Chile. Department of Basic and Clinical Oncology)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	The COVID-19 pandemic will likely take years to control globally, and constant epidemic surveillance will be required to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2, especially considering the emergence of new variants that could hamper the effect of vaccination efforts. We developed a simple and robust - Phone Screen Testing (PoST) - method to detect SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals by RT-PCR testing of smartphone screen swab samples. We show that 81. 3-100% of individuals with high-viral-load SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal-positive samples also test positive for PoST, suggesting this method is effective in identifying COVID-19 contagious individuals. Furthermore, we successfully identified polymorphisms associated with SARS-CoV-2 Alpha, Beta, and Gamma variants, in SARS-CoV-2-positive PoST samples. Overall, we report that PoST is a new non-invasive, cost-effective, and easy-to-implement smartphone-based smart alternative for SARS-CoV-2 testing, which could help to contain COVID-19 outbreaks and identification of variants of concern in the years to come.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	COVID-19 ; SARS-CoV-2 ; RT-PCR ; Virus
Published in:	eLife, Vol. 10 (June 2021) , art. e70333, ISSN 2050-084X

DOI: 10.7554/eLife.70333
PMID: 34155970

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