Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis

Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis

Massive molecular testing for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis is mandatory to manage the spread of COVID-19. Diagnostic screening should be performed at a mass scale, extended to the asymptomatic population, and repeated over time. An accurate diagnostic pipeline for SARS-CoV-2 that could massively increase th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Renato Millioni, Cinzia Mortarino
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
Series:Diagnostics
Subjects:
pooling
molecular testing
SARS-CoV-2
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/1/68
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spelling doaj-54f3d98672584ced99d249724baf02992021-01-05T00:01:21ZengMDPI AGDiagnostics2075-44182021-01-0111686810.3390/diagnostics11010068Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 DiagnosisRenato Millioni0Cinzia Mortarino1Fascial Manipulation Institute by Stecco, 35129 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Statistical Sciences, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, ItalyMassive molecular testing for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis is mandatory to manage the spread of COVID-19. Diagnostic screening should be performed at a mass scale, extended to the asymptomatic population, and repeated over time. An accurate diagnostic pipeline for SARS-CoV-2 that could massively increase the laboratory efficiency, while being sustainable in terms of time and costs, should be based on a pooling strategy. In the past few months, researchers from different disciplines had this same idea: test groups, not individuals. This critical review intends to highlight both the general consents—even if the results from different publications have been obtained with different protocols—and the points of disagreement that are creating some interpretative/comprehension difficulties. Different pooling schemes and technical aspects associated to the type of pooling adopted are described and discussed. We hope that this review can consolidate information to support researchers in designing optimized COVID-19 testing protocols based on pooling.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/1/68poolingmolecular testingSARS-CoV-2
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Renato Millioni
Cinzia Mortarino
spellingShingle Renato Millioni
Cinzia Mortarino
Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis
Diagnostics
pooling
molecular testing
SARS-CoV-2
author_facet Renato Millioni
Cinzia Mortarino
author_sort Renato Millioni
title Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis
title_short Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis
title_full Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis
title_fullStr Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis
title_full_unstemmed Test Groups, Not Individuals: A Review of the Pooling Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis
title_sort test groups, not individuals: a review of the pooling approaches for sars-cov-2 diagnosis
publisher MDPI AG
series Diagnostics
issn 2075-4418
publishDate 2021-01-01
description Massive molecular testing for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis is mandatory to manage the spread of COVID-19. Diagnostic screening should be performed at a mass scale, extended to the asymptomatic population, and repeated over time. An accurate diagnostic pipeline for SARS-CoV-2 that could massively increase the laboratory efficiency, while being sustainable in terms of time and costs, should be based on a pooling strategy. In the past few months, researchers from different disciplines had this same idea: test groups, not individuals. This critical review intends to highlight both the general consents—even if the results from different publications have been obtained with different protocols—and the points of disagreement that are creating some interpretative/comprehension difficulties. Different pooling schemes and technical aspects associated to the type of pooling adopted are described and discussed. We hope that this review can consolidate information to support researchers in designing optimized COVID-19 testing protocols based on pooling.
topic pooling
molecular testing
SARS-CoV-2
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/1/68
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