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Abstracts of Poster and e-Poster Presentations
PA-376 Saliva as a tool for SARS-CoV-2 genomic and immunological surveillance in the Republic of Congo
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  1. Freisnel Hermeland Mouzinga1,2,
  2. Abel Lissom3,
  3. Constanze Heinzel4,
  4. Andrea Kreidenweiss4,5,6,
  5. Jacques Dollon Mbama-Ntabi1,2,
  6. Claujens Chastel Mfoutou Mapanguy1,2,
  7. Armel Landry Batchi-Bouyou1,2,7,
  8. Jean Claude Djontu1,
  9. Georges Missontsa1,
  10. Steve Diafouka Kietela1,
  11. Etienne Ngumbi2,
  12. Peter G Kremsner4,5,6,
  13. Rolf Fendel4,5,6,
  14. Francine Ntoumi1,4
  1. 1Fondation Congolaise Pour La Recherche Medicale, Republic of Congo
  2. 2Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Marien Ngouabi, Republic of Congo
  3. 3Department of zoology, Faculty of Science, University, Cameroon
  4. 4Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Germany
  5. 5Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné, Gabon
  6. 6German Center for Infectious Diseases (DZIF), Partner Site Tübingen, Germany
  7. 7Global Clinical Scholars Research Training Program, Harvard Medical School, USA

Abstract

Background The design of this study was intended to evaluate the use of saliva as a reliable non-invasive tool for the genomic and immunological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Republic of Congo.

Methods During this cross-sectional study, the active infection was determined by detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA using RT-PCR in 220 paired saliva and oropharyngeal samples (OPS), and by sequencing SARS-CoV-2 genome using the Oxford nanopore technology. The detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody was done in 148 pair saliva and plasma samples using an in-house developed ELISA, and the reproductivity of the assay based on Saliva were assessed in two independent laboratories.

Results Overall, saliva (22/220) and OPS (23/220) showed similar rates of viral detection (p= 1.00). The sensitivity and specificity of detecting SARS-COV-2 active infection in saliva were 95.7% (95%CI: 79.0–99.8%) and 100% (95%CI: 98.1–100%) respectively, with the mean cycle threshold values similar to those of oropharyngeal samples (p>0.05). The genome sequencing revealed a mean coverage of 95.5 ± 2.8%, finding omicron as the main variant. The anti-SARS-COV-2 antibody detection in saliva showed a sensitivity of 92.0% (95%CI: 85.0–96.0%) and specificity of 93.3% (95%CI: 78.0–99.2%) compared to plasma. There was a high agreement in antibody detection results between FCRM and ITM laboratories (Cohen’s kappa 0,94; p = 0.0001).

Conclusion These findings demonstrate that saliva can be used as a surrogate to Oropharyngeal or plasma for surveillance of SARS-COV-2 infection in the Republic of Congo.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-EDC.175

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