2022 · Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · open access
A pilot clinical validation study of a self-collected vaginal swab device for the detection of <i>chlamydia trachomatis</i> in women
Muljadi et al.
The finding, in our words
The pilot study provided evidence that a dry-stored, self-collected vaginal swab could assist detection of Chlamydia trachomatis when compared with clinician-collected discharge, first-catch urine and blood serology, potentially reducing privacy barriers and removing cold-chain requirements for screening in remote areas.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The study found that self-collection of dried blood spots and other samples using at-home kits was a useful and cost-effective method for screening a large cohort for sexually transmitted infections outside a clinic. This demonstrates the feasibility of decentralised, patient-centric sampling for population-level infectious disease surveillance.
Mimiaga et al., Sexually transmitted infections (paywalled) · source ↗
This narrative review surveys remote biospecimen collection products for sexual health research, including dried blood spots and volumetric absorptive microsampling, and concludes that successful implementation needs a multidisciplinary, participant-centred team with sufficient time allocated to the complexities of collection procedures and processes.
Horvath et al., AIDS and behavior (paywalled) · source ↗
Among 92 patients on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, 79.3 per cent returned home-collected kits comprising dried blood spots, urine, and oropharyngeal swabs. Nearly 87.7 per cent were extremely to moderately satisfied with avoiding clinic visits, and mean turnaround fell from 17 to 5 days, showing self-collection is a feasible, patient-centric model for decentralised sexual health and SARS-CoV-2 screening.
Saberi et al., Open forum infectious diseases · source ↗
For decentralised testing, a study found dry vaginal self-samples using Copan FLOQSwabs stored up to two weeks at room temperature maintain DNA quality. However, first-void urine collected with the Colli-Pee device may be less sensitive for HPV detection, showing lower positivity and higher cycle threshold values, median Ct 30 versus 27 for other samples.
Chu et al., BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · source ↗
This retrospective analysis of over 600,000 online postal self-sampling orders found that whilst return rates for urine samples were moderate to high, the return of processable blood samples was significantly lower and varied by age and deprivation level.
Gibbs et al., Sexually transmitted infections (paywalled) · source ↗