Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Testing and Pooling Strategies for Screening of Asymptomatic Individuals - The Philippine Children's Medical Center Experience

Authors

  • Danielle Anne Gonong Philippine Children’s Medical Center
  • Grig Misiona Philippine Children’s Medical Center
  • Melani Sionzon Philippine Children’s Medical Center
  • Farrah Kristine Santiago Philippine Children’s Medical Center
  • Aquiles Joseph Lira Philippine Children’s Medical Center
  • Raymundo Lo Philippine Children’s Medical Center

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21141/PJP.2021.03

Keywords:

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, 2019 corovonavirus disease

Abstract

Background. The availability of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is limited by the scarcity of resources prompting the use of pooling strategies. Evaluated in this study is the Philippine Children’s Medical Center’s (PCMC) experience in pooled testing done in asymptomatic population.

Objectives. Review the pooled SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results and case investigation forms (CIF) in asymptomatic population. Determine the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic population and compare all the individual and pooled tests results. Determine the number of saved test kits and identify clustering in the community.

Methodology. This is a retrospective study that reviewed the pooled and individual SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results using Allsheng Auto-Pure 32a extraction kit, Sansure Biotech PCR machine and Maccura Sars-CoV-2 test kits. The pooling protocol used by the institution followed the recommendation by Lo et al in the study entitled “An Evaluation of Pooling Strategies for RT-qPCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

 Results. There are 1828 samples which resulted to 165 negative, 68 indeterminate, and 137 positive pools. There are 157, 135, and 68 pools containing 5 individual samples that were classified as negative, positive and indeterminate pools, respectively. Additionally, the negative pools contained 8 pools with 3 individual samples and the positive pools contained 2 pools with 2 individual samples. Deconvolution of the positive and indeterminate pools resulted to 227 and 74 positive individuals, respectively. In this review, the laboratory saved 24% of the test kits and shorten the overall turnaround time by 23 hours.

Conclusions and Recommendations. The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in the population is higher compared to the prevalence of infection in the country. Pooled testing conserved test kits and congruence of pooled and individual ORF Ct-values was observed. An in-depth study including other genes is recommended and assessment of pooling in other population may be pursued.

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Author Biographies

Danielle Anne Gonong, Philippine Children’s Medical Center

Medical Officer III

Grig Misiona, Philippine Children’s Medical Center

Medical Specialist III

Melani Sionzon, Philippine Children’s Medical Center

Medical Specialist III

Farrah Kristine Santiago, Philippine Children’s Medical Center

Medical Specialist III

Aquiles Joseph Lira, Philippine Children’s Medical Center

Medical Officer III

Raymundo Lo, Philippine Children’s Medical Center

Honorary Consultant

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Published

06/27/2021

How to Cite

Gonong, D. A., Misiona, G., Sionzon, M., Santiago, F. K. ., Lira, A. J., & Lo, R. . (2021). Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Testing and Pooling Strategies for Screening of Asymptomatic Individuals - The Philippine Children’s Medical Center Experience. PJP, 6(1), 18–25. https://doi.org/10.21141/PJP.2021.03

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2021): June Issue (Online)

Section

Original Articles

License

Creative Commons License
The Philippine Journal of Pathology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.  Based on works made open access at http://philippinejournalofpathology.org

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