What are the advantages of nucleic acid testing nasal swabs over pharyngeal swabs? Let's learn more about it

①, the general virus attack is in the nasopharynx, virus retention time relative to the oropharynx will be a little longer, so the nasopharyngeal swab collected specimens to be more adequate than the oropharyngeal swab.

②, for the detection of sampling personnel, the risk of exposure will be lower than the oropharyngeal swab, because the sampling operator can stand behind the patient's side when sampling, and require the patient to pull down the mask to reveal only the nostrils, cover the mouth, do not need to look directly at the patient's mouth, basically there will be no gag reflex, only a small number of patients will appear after sampling sneeze reflex, the patient can use the elbow and tissue to cover, and because the sampling Because the operator is not directly in front of the patient, the risk of exposure is quite low, so that the psychological pressure of the sampling operator is not so great.

③. The patient is well tolerated and can basically take samples without anesthesia after skilled operation.

So what is the difference between the two?

The pharynx is divided into nasopharynx, oropharynx and laryngopharynx which are continuous mucous membranes, all belong to the upper respiratory tract area, nasopharyngeal swabs and oropharyngeal swabs are only different sampling paths, generally sampling through the oropharynx is called oropharyngeal swabs, while sampling through the nasopharynx is nasal swabs. However, because oropharyngeal swabs can be operated with an open mouth, they are simpler compared to nasal swabs and are therefore more commonly used clinically, but the risk of exposure to the sampling operator will be higher.

Whether it is a pharyngeal swab or a nasal swab, if it is not done properly, it may result in a "false negative" result, which may delay the treatment of the patient. So, what is the key to pharyngeal swab nucleic acid test specimen collection? Whether it is a nasal swab or a pharyngeal swab, the depth of the sample and the time of mucosal contact are key. If the nasopharyngeal swab does not reach the depth of the nasopharyngeal cavity, or if the patient's reaction to vomiting during the collection of the oropharyngeal swab is high, then it is likely that the cells collected will not have a high "viral content", which will result in a "false negative".