THE USE OF SALIVA IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF COVID-19 IN PUBLIC HEALTH SCREENING PROGRAMS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63330/armv1n8-028Keywords:
COVID-19, Diagnosis, Screening, Saliva, Public healthAbstract
INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for effective diagnostic methods to control viral spread, emphasizing the importance of reliable, accessible, and safe alternatives for public health screening. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the applicability of saliva as a diagnostic tool for COVID-19 in public health screening programs. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative narrative literature review was conducted, covering articles published between 2020 and 2025 in the PubMed, SciELO, and Google Scholar databases, using the descriptors “saliva,” “COVID-19,” and “diagnosis” combined with the Boolean operator AND. Articles available in full text, in Portuguese or English, directly addressing the use of saliva for COVID-19 diagnosis with the descriptors included in the title were considered. RESULTS: Eleven articles were selected. The studies indicate variable sensitivity (52.3% to 100%) and high specificity (63.5% to 100%) for saliva, demonstrating diagnostic performance comparable to nasopharyngeal swabs, especially when collected properly or in simplified protocols such as RNA-extraction-free RT-PCR. Furthermore, saliva collection is non-invasive, low-cost, and allows self-sampling, increasing the feasibility of mass screenings and reducing healthcare workers’ exposure. CONCLUSION: Saliva is a promising and viable sample for COVID-19 diagnostic screening, which can be used as an alternative or complement to traditional methods, being particularly useful in large-scale testing contexts and for the early detection of asymptomatic and mild cases.
Downloads
References
ABDOLLAHI, A. et al. The role of saliva PCR assay in the diagnosis of COVID-19. Journal of Infection and Public Health, v. 15, n. 9, p. 1065–1069, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.15239.
ALQUTAIBI, A. Y. et al. Saliva may be considered as reliable tool for diagnosis of COVID-19 when compared with nasopharynx or throat swabs. Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice, v. 21, n. 1, p. 101530, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebdp.2021.101530.
CABRAL, Pedro; GOMES, Bernardo; FELGUEIRAS, Mafalda. Uncertain Certainties: Upcoming Challenges in the Laboratory Diagnosis of COVID-19. Acta Médica Portuguesa, Lisboa, v. 34, n. 1, p. 3-5, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20344/amp.15002.
DUNCAN, D. B. et al. Performance of saliva compared with nasopharyngeal swab for diagnosis of COVID-19 by NAAT in cross-sectional studies: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Virology, v. 162, p. 105373, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2022.08.004.
FERNANDES, Guilherme Ferreira et al. Acurácia do diagnóstico laboratorial do vírus SARS-CoV-2. In: Forum Rondoniense de Pesquisa, 2021. Anais. Disponível em: https://jiparana.emnuvens.com.br/foruns/article/view/342. Acesso em 26 set. 2025.
GÜÇLÜ, E. et al. Comparison of saliva and oro-nasopharyngeal swab sample in the molecular diagnosis of COVID-19. Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira, v. 66, n. 8, p. 1116–1121, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.8.1116.
NACHER, M. et al. Diagnostic accuracy and acceptability of molecular diagnosis of COVID-19 on saliva samples relative to nasopharyngeal swabs in tropical hospital and extra-hospital contexts: The COVISAL study. PLOS ONE, v. 16, n. 9, p. e0257169, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257169.
OLIVEIRA, C. M. et al. SARS-CoV-2 saliva testing is a useful tool for Covid-19 diagnosis. Journal of Virological Methods, v. 296, p. 114241, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jviromet.2021.114241.
SAGREDO-OLIVARES, K.; MORALES-GÓMEZ, C.; AITKEN-SAAVEDRA, J. Evaluation of saliva as a complementary technique to the diagnosis of COVID-19: a systematic review. Medicina Oral Patología Oral y Cirugía Bucal, v. 26, n. 4, p. e526-e532, 2021. Disponível em: https://www.medicinaoral.com/medoralfree01/aop/24424.pdf. Acesso em: 27 set. 2025.
SASIKALA, Mitnala; et al. Comparison of saliva with healthcare workers- and patient-collected swabs in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in a large cohort. BMC Infectious Diseases, v. 21, n. 1, p. 648, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06343-w.
SAZED, S. A. et al. Direct nasal swab for rapid test and saliva as an alternative biological sample for RT-PCR in COVID-19 diagnosis. Microbiology Spectrum, v. 10, n. 6, p. e0199822, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01998-22.
SILVA, Emily Thalia Teixeira da. A saliva como material biológico no diagnóstico de SARS-CoV-2. 2024. Disponível em: https://repositorio.unesp.br/handle/11449/253391. Acesso em: 27 set. 2025
SORELLE, J. A. et al. Saliva for use with a point of care assay for the rapid diagnosis of COVID-19. Clinica Chimica Acta, v. 510, p. 685–686, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cca.2020.09.001.
TEO, A. K. J. et al. Saliva is more sensitive than nasopharyngeal or nasal swabs for diagnosis of asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 infection. Scientific Reports, v. 11, p. 3134, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82787-z.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (OMS). WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard: Deaths. Geneva: WHO, 2025. Disponível em: https://data.who.int/dashboards/covid19/deaths. Acesso em: 24 set. 2025.
YILMAZ, S. S. Real-life experience: sensitivity and specificity of nasal and saliva samples for COVID-19 diagnosis. Irish Journal of Medical Science, v. 191, n. 4, p. 1571–1576, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-021-02839-1.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
