Materials and methods: Prospective cohort of 40 COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), positive patients from Tampere university hospital region are recruited to the study. Forty COVID-19 negative patients with similar symptoms act as a control group.
All subjects are screened for other respiratory viruses with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-multiplex tests. Viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 from anterior nasal cavity, nasopharynx, throat and saliva are evaluated by RT-PCR cycle treshold (Ct) value and antigen testing (RLU value).
During the first visit NEWS (National Early Warning Score), recorded pulmonary auscultation (Thinklabs One, Thinklabs Medical LLC), impulse oscillometry (Tremoflo, THORASYS Thoracic Medical Systems Inc), FeNO (fractional exhaled nitric oxide) and FnNO (fractional nasal nitric oxide) (NIOX VERO®,Circassia) are conducted. All aforementioned and a spirometry are measured again after 2 months.
Aims: To evaluate the relation of COVID-19 infection and its severity to upper and lower airway nitric oxide, viral load and lung function. To compare the capability of RT-PCR in detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA from saliva, anterior nasal swab samples and oropharyngeal swap samples vs. the golden standard of nasopharyngeal swab samples. To compare the results of RT-PCR and antigen test in detecting SARS-CoV-2 from nasal and pharyngeal sample sites.
