A team of researcher from the University of Seville and other institutions have developed a fast method to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The technique can be potentially used for rapid and concurrent screening, for example in transport hubs or mass events. This new methodology, whose first results are published in the journal Scientific Reports, from the Nature Group, has obtained a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 87.5% in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal exudate (the same samples used in a PCR test) from symptomatic people. It has also been possible to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in fresh saliva of asymptomatic people, as well as to detect, differentiate and quantify two types of synthetic viruses (lentiviruses and synthetic coronaviruses) in two biofluids (saline solution and artificial saliva). The main advantage of this new technology over PCR lies in the speed of sample processing and the ability of the optical system to simultaneously analyze a large number of samples.

This new methodology, published under the tittle “Optical imaging spectroscopy for rapid, primary screening of SARS-CoV-2: a proof of concept” in the journal Scientific Reports, has achieved a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 87.5% in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal exudate. It has also demonstrated its potential to detect the presence of the virus causing COVID-19 in fresh saliva. The main advantage of this new technology over conventional PCR lies with the speed of the the classification and its ability to perform multiple analysis simultaneously.