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.
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