Nasal swab for flu,Rapid antigen nasal or throat swab

Posted on 2021年9月8日2022年3月22日 by Dr. Lee

Nasal swab for flu_Rapid antigen (nasal or throat swab) test

Influenza is common in winter and spring. The clinical manifestations are mainly systemic poisoning symptoms such as high fever, fatigue, headache, cough and systemic muscle pain, while the respiratory symptoms are mild.

Influenza viruses are prone to mutation, infectious, susceptible to population and high incidence rate. They have caused many outbreaks in the world, and are important public health issues worldwide.

Why should we detect and prevent influenza?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), seasonal influenza can cause 3-5 million severe cases and 290000-650000 deaths worldwide every year.

The researchers believe that children under the age of 5 are at high risk of severe influenza, but children under the age of 2 are at the highest risk, and infants under 6 months have the highest hospitalization rate and mortality.

Pregnant women, infants, the elderly, patients with chronic basic diseases and other high-risk groups have a higher risk of serious diseases and death after suffering from influenza.

Nasal swab for flu : common influenza test method

Nasopharyngeal sample collection

Influenza is an acute inflammation of the respiratory tract caused by the patient’s infection with influenza virus. The patient can have a series of symptoms such as cough, expectoration, fever, sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose and general fatigue. In case of influenza, we should conduct relevant examinations in time to further clarify the diagnosis, including the following tests:

First, blood routine test, patients with influenza can promote the increase of lymphocytes. If combined with bacterial infection, there can be the increase of leukocytes and so on.

Second, scientists can culture throat swabs of influenza viruses. In throat swab culture, researchers can detect the related virus.

Third, influenza patients can do second-generation sequencing, including sputum second-generation sequencing, which can determine the type of virus infected.

Fourth, influenza patients can do the detection of respiratory pathogens to further clarify the pathogens of infection.

At present, the two most common influenza tests are rapid antigen diagnostic test and influenza virus cell culture test. Both tests rely on Nasopharyngeal swabs, pharyngeal swabs, etc. for virus sampling. The most commonly used sampling swab is nylon flocking swab.

Nasal swab for flu:Application

It is suitable for the detection and sampling of COVID-19, influenza virus , hand foot mouth disease virus, COVID-19, measles rubella and other types of viruses.

About nasal swab sampling

Why use flocked nylon swabs?

flocked swabs_Cell medical (Dongguan) Co., Ltd.

Flocked nylon swab: excellent sample collection / release ability, release rate > 90%.

Conventional fiber swab: the sample is intercepted by the gap in the fiber mass. That is, the sample is penetrated, diluted and intercepted in the fiber. Acquisition is slow and release is slower.

The sampling time of flocked swab is 3-5 seconds, while that of traditional swab is 15-120 seconds or even longer.

This caused pressure on the staff during the diagnosis process. Only by extracting samples faster can we complete the collection and analysis more efficiently.

Precautions for patients with nasopharyngeal swab:

① Please do not take antibiotics a few days before making nasal swabs;

② Do not use disinfectant mouthwash or smear the focus a few hours before nasal swab.

③ Do not eat, smoke or drink a few hours before doing nose swab.

Precautions for Sampler:

① . the sampler shall stand on the side of the patient for sampling.

② The patient is required to pull down the mask to expose only his nostrils. In case of sneezing reflex, the patient can cover it with elbows or paper towels.

If the sampler is not directly in front of the patient, the exposure risk will be lower.

③ If the patient’s turbinate is hypertrophic, the nasal tract is narrow, and the insertion of the nasal swab feels resistance. Try to change one side of the nasal cavity or directly change to oropharyngeal swab collection.

④ Those with nasal allergy symptoms are easy to induce sneezing. It is recommended to take oropharyngeal swab samples.

⑤ Remember to wear a protective mask / screen. For individuals who are highly suspected or basically diagnosed, or who have severe cough and hiccup, they should put on protective clothing.

⑥ After sampling, replace gloves, disinfect hands, and spray disinfectant where patients have touched.

Finally, we should pay attention to nasal swab for flu in special times. Remember to wear masks and personal hygiene when going out. Once you find the virus, please isolate it to avoid re transmission.

What is a sterile swab？

Posted on 2021年9月7日2022年3月22日 by Dr. Lee

Sterile swab is the full name of disposable sterile sampling swab. The sterile sampling swab does not contain or other live microorganisms. Common sterilization methods include autoclave, EOS (ethylene oxide gas) and γ-ray irradiation. In medicine, we usually use sterile swabs for biological sample collection. Such as bacterial sample processing, COVID-19, nasal swab sampling, throat swab sampling, oral swab sampling, virological cell culture and so on are ideal ways.

Swabs are sterile to maintain the integrity of the sample. Usually, there is a resealable sterile container or bag to preserve the integrity during processing and transportation to the laboratory. Many different people use sterile cotton swabs, including medical personnel, food manufacturers and crime scene investigators.

Sterile swabs can be used to collect samples. The material, size and shape of the sterile swab head may be different, such as round or pointed. Traditional swab may be made of cotton fiber, polyester or calcium alginate. Collection and publishing volumes are large and may be corrupted. Traditional swab laboratory staff also need to use scissors to cut, which is too troublesome and time-consuming.Our new flocked disposable sampling cotton swab greatly reduces the time cost and has the advantage of being easier to use than traditional swabs.

The main advantages of our sterile flocked swab are as follows.

1. It has extraordinary water absorption capacity and can increase the number of samples collected on the watch from 20% of the traditional sampling swab to 60%.

2. The release rate of collected samples exceeds 90%, which ensures the high reliability of the results.

3. Select different preservation solutions for different types of samples.

4. The plastic rod has a unique fragile design, which is convenient for sample transportation.

5. Ethylene oxide sterilization, irradiation sterilization and independent packaging.

Sampling operation method.

1.Nasopharyngeal swab sampling.

Nasopharyngeal Sampling diagram

①Insert a sterile swab into the nostril of the patient,reaching the surface of the posterior nasopharynx.

②Swab over the surface of the posterior nasopharynx. Hold the swab in the nosefor15-30s and rotate it 3 times.

③Withdraw the sterile swab from the nasal cavity.

④Put virus sampling tube vertically.

⑤At the breaking point, disconnect the swab, discard the tail, and completely place the swab into the tube.

⑥Tighten the tube cap, mark it, put it into the biosafety bag and seal it.

2.Oropharyngeal swab sampling

Oropharyngeal Sampling diagram

① Keep the head slightly tilted, the mouth open, and the pharyngeal tonsils on both sides exposed.

②The sampling personnel shall wipe the root of the tongue with a swab. Wipe the pharyngeal tonsils on both sides of the subject back and forth with a strong force for at least 3 times, and then wipe the posterior pharyngeal wall up and down for at least 3 times.

③Put the sampled swab into the virus sampling tube, break the swab rod at the mouth of the tube cover and completely put it into the tube.

④Tighten the tube cap, mark it, put it into the biosafety bag and seal it.

⑤Submit for inspection in time.

Anal swab sampling

Anal Sampling diagram

①The patient is in the knee chest position or lateral position.

② Gently insert a sterile cotton swab into the anus for 3cm-5cm, and then gently rotate and pull it out.

③Immediately put it into a 15ml outer screw cap sampling tube with 3ml-5ml virus preservation solution.

④Fold off the tail of the cotton swab, tighten the sealing cover, and then submit it for inspection in time.

⑤In order to avoid embarrassment of the examinee, anal swab sampling is generally conducted in a more private place, and the operation requirements of anal swab sampling are more strict. Generally, there will be no obvious discomfort after anal swab sampling.

flocked swabs definition

Posted on 2021年9月3日2021年12月21日 by Dr. Lee

flocked swabs definition

Flocked swab using spray dense planting nylon fiber technology;The volume of samples collected and released is 3 times higher than that of traditional swabs. Ensure the survival rate of cell samples, no residual fatty acids, and will not affect the test results.

Picture of sampling flocking swab

Why use flocked swabs？

COVID-19 is New Coronavirus’s variant coronavirus, which can cause pneumonia after human infection. It belongs to an acute respiratory infectious disease, which is highly infectious and generally susceptible to people. It is easy to replicate in the upper respiratory tract of human body. In general, new crown nucleic acids are detected rapidly within 96 hours after infection. Testers can find viruses in the human upper respiratory tract. Experiments show that flocking swab can quickly elute > 95% of the original samples, and easily improve the detection sensitivity.

Application of sampling flocked swabs.

The upper respiratory tract of the human body includes the nasal cavity, pharynx and throat. That is to say, if a person is infected with COVID-19, he can extract the nucleic acid of the virus in the nasal cavity, pharynx and larynx in 96 hours. Therefore, we generally sample these locations when we carry out the rapid detection of new crown nucleic acid.

we distinguish swabs by different sampling positions. For nasal sampling, we become nasopharyngeal flocked swabs; For oral sampling, we become oropharyngeal flocked swabs.

What is the difference between nasopharyngeal swabs and oropharyngeal flocked swabs?

Nasopharyngeal swabs and oropharyngeal swabs differ in material hardness in addition to the differences in sampling sites. The nasopharyngeal swab is generally slender and soft, and can change its shape along the nasal cavity, which is convenient for the sampling personnel to probe into the upper respiratory tract along the nasal cavity. The oropharyngeal swab will be thick and hard.

In terms of comfort, there are also great differences between the two. Since gas exchange is often carried out in the nasal cavity, the swab shall be fully extended to the end of the nasal cavity during sampling to ensure that sufficient concentration of samples are collected. This usually brings very uncomfortable feeling to the subject, and sometimes even leads to epistaxis.The oropharyngeal swab only needs to collect the pharyngeal sample, and only needs the person to open his mouth for collection. Although it occasionally causes a temporary feeling of nausea, the discomfort will not last too long.

There are also obvious differences between the two in drug loading. Studies have shown that in patients infected with the new crown virus, the amount of drug carried on the nasopharyngeal swab is significantly higher than that on the oropharyngeal swab. In other words, the detection amount of nasopharyngeal swabs is generally higher than that of oropharyngeal swabs.

In addition to nasopharyngeal flocked swabs and oropharyngeal swabs, there are anal swabs. As the name suggests, anal swab is a kind of test for patients with gastrointestinal symptoms. It can effectively improve the detection rate, but it is not widely used because of the inconvenience of sampling.

Attention

After sampling the flocking swab, we should immediately put the swab into the storage tube to avoid polluting the sample. Then, the subsequent rapid detection process of new crown nucleic acid was carried out. No matter what kind of swab is used, the process of rapid detection of new crown nucleic acid is the same. The rapid detection of new crown nucleic acid was completed in four independent areas of the laboratory, and the test results were obtained.

Do you know anything about anal swabs?

Posted on 2020年12月18日2021年8月19日 by Dr. Lee

Do you know anything about anal swabs?

The study found that these patients were positive not only in the Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs but also in the anal swabs, which proved the possibility of COVID-19 spreading through the fecal mouth.

The study also found that anal swabs were more accurate than nasal and oropharyngeal swabs.

After entering the body through the nasal cavity and mouth, COVID-19 does not stay at the entrance. The purpose of the body is to penetrate the body. Therefore, those infected with asymptomatic infection and mild symptoms were infected with COVID-19 3~5 days later. The virus in the pharynx could not be detected by nucleic acid (1~2 could not be detected after ordinary people), but the duration of nucleic acid detection in the alimentary canal was significantly longer. The longest case of anal swab lasted for 51 days.

Anal swab & test tubes containing preservation solution

The increase of anal swabs is helpful to improve the detection rate of COVID-19 infected people.

In addition, anal swabs are less painful than nasal and oropharyngeal swabs for healthy groups. Some people even say that “the process is painless”, but they are forbidden to be used for those who have anal erosion, ulcer, abscess and have just completed anorectal surgery.

Compared with the unspeakable sour feeling of nose and oropharyngeal swabs, anal swabs are really comfortable! Because nasal and oropharyngeal swabs are deep after all.