New research hopes to improve COVID-19 nasal swab test

A nasal test for COVID-19 takes just a few seconds, but getting a long swab stuck up the nose isn’t an experience many people would describe as pleasant.

New research led by a team at St. Paul’s Hospital hopes to make the diagnostic process a bit more comfortable. Their study found that rotating the swab after it’s inserted into the nose – a step that makes the procedure take longer, and may increase patient discomfort – does not improve the quality of the sample collected and is therefore unnecessary.

…

With that in mind, Dr. Leung approached Dr. Zabrina Brumme, the Laboratory Director at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and a Professor at Simon Fraser University, for help conducting an experimental study to reveal whether rotation of the swab improved the quality of the specimen collected. Luckily, methods to assess this were already in place at SFU and the BC-CfE, and Dr. Brumme was quickly able to redeploy graduate students and staff to help out.

Their study was published October 14 in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Scroll to Top

Canada Post has provided notification of restarting their operations on December 17, 2024. As Canada Post ramps up and stabilizes their services, the BC-CfE will continue the following measures on an interim basis to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory will utilize private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy will utilize private courier for delivery of medications. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

Start typing and press enter to search