Swab pooling: A new method for large-scale RT-qPCR screening of SARS-CoV-2 avoiding sample dilution
Fig 2
Swab pooling and dilution effects.
(A) In a laboratory controlled experiment, 16 positive samples were inoculated in negative individual and pool samples maintaining the dilution factor of 1.67 between individual (3 mL) and swab pooling (5 mL) samples. Mean Cq differences between individual and pool samples estimated for E and RdRp genes along with 95% credibility intervals are shown in the top-left corner of the graphs. (B) Expected Cq variations (ΔCq) for sample pooling methods with 10, 16 or 32 samples compared to swab pooling in different amplification efficiencies. Expected ΔCq was calculated using Efficiencyslope = dilution factor [29–31]. In swab pooling, the number of samples are not related to the dilution factor.