Gargled water samples can be alternative to swabs: Study

NEW DELHI: Gargled water samples may be viable alternative to swabs for detection of Covid-19, enabling easy self-collection and removing the need for trained healthcare workers for sample collection, according to a study published in the ICMR's Indian Journal of Medical Research.
Adoption of gargle lavage for sample collection will have a significant impact as it also leads to substantial cost savings by reducing the need for swabs and personal protective equipment, the study highlighted.
The authors of the study "Gargle lavage as a viable alternative to swab for detection of SARS-CoV-2" include Dr Naveet Wig, Dr Manish Soneja, Dr Neeraj Nischal and Dr Ankit Mittal from the department of Medicine at AIIMS, Dr Anjan Trikha and Dr Kapil Dev Soni from the department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at AIIMS, among others.
"Swab collection has several drawbacks also as it requires training, exposes the healthcare workers to the virus containing aerosols, has poor patient acceptability and is resource intensive.
"An alternative sample collection method that could overcome most of these limitations without compromising the yield of the test is the need of the hour," the study underlined.