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False negatives from nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) using reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) in SARS-CoV-2 are high. Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) contains lower respiratory droplets that may improve detection. We performed EBC RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 genes (E, S, N, ORF1ab) on NPS-positive (n=16) and NPS-negative/clinically positive COVID-19 patients (n=15) using two commercial assays. EBC detected SARS-CoV-2 in 93.5% (29/31) using the four genes. Pre-SARS-CoV-2 era controls (n=14) were negative. EBC was positive in NPS negative/clinically positive patients in 66.6% (10/15) using the identical E and S (E/S) gene assay used for NPS, 73.3% (11/15) using the N/ORF1ab assay and 14/15 (93.3%) combined.
Ryan et al. (Fri,) studied this question.