Pooled testing with replication as a mass testing strategy for the COVID-19 pandemics

Žilinskas, Julius; Lančinskas, Algirdas; Guarracino, Mario Rosario

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-83104-4

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…We hope that our discussion complies well with our initial goal stated in the introduction. To emphasize the relevance of similar promotional discussions in the present context, we point out a huge burst of papers devoted to similar problems (see, e.g., [5,17,31,33,36,38,44,45]). Besides that, we also note that some countries have already successfully applied pooling methodology for testing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group testing: Revisiting the ideas

Skorniakov

Leipus

Juzeliūnas

et al. 2021

NAMC

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The task of identification of randomly scattered “bad” items in a fixed set of objects is a frequent one, and there are many ways to deal with it. “Group testing” (GT) refers to the testing strategy aiming to effectively replace the inspection of single objects by the inspection of groups spanning more than one object. First announced by Dorfman in 1943, the methodology has underwent vigorous development, and though many related research still take place, the ground ideas remain the same. In the present paper, we revisit two classical GT algorithms: the Dorfman’s algorithm and the halving algorithm. Our fresh treatment of the latter and expository comparison of the two is devoted to dissemination of GT ideas, which are so important in the current COVID-19 induced pandemic situation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group testing: Revisiting the ideas

Skorniakov

Leipus

Juzeliūnas

et al. 2021

NAMC

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“…Based on the results of the epidemiological investigation and risk assessment by the IRT, a high-risk group of soldiers was recommended to receive individual testing, while pooled testing was performed for low-risk populations. Pooled testing is a method of mixing several samples to form 1 group sample, followed by a reexamination individually to identify the final confirmed case if there is a positive result [ 14 , 15 ]. Group testing can maintain a sensitivity of > 96% even after mixing up to 10 samples [ 16 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 outbreak in a military unit in Korea

Kim

Heo

et al. 2021

Epidemiol Health

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Objectives This study presents the response of a military unit to the COVID-19 outbreak in Gyeonggi Province. As soon as two soldiers were identified as index cases, the infectious disease investigators of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Armed Forces Epidemiologic Investigation Center, discussed the investigation and response plan for an imminent massive outbreak.Methods The joint immediate response team (IRT) conducted interviews with confirmed patients with COVID-19, reviewed medical records, performed contact tracing using global positioning system (GPS), and undertook a field investigation. For risk assessment, the joint IRT visited all eight sites of the military units and the army chaplain's church to evaluate the transmission risk of each site. The evaluation items included the size of the site, the use of air conditioning, whether windows were opened, and whether masks were worn. A pooled testing was used for a low-risk population to quickly detect the spread of COVID-19 in the military base.Results A day before the symptom onset of the index case, the lecturer and >50% of the attendees were infected with COVID-19 while attending a lecture that lasted 2 h and 30 min. Attendees were not wearing masks and were in a poorly ventilated room.Conclusions Since the disease can be spread before symptom onset, contact tracing must be performed to investigate potential exposures prior to symptom onset and manage any exposed persons.

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“…The efficiency, accuracy 7 , 12 , 14 , and cost-effectiveness 17 of pooled testing were evaluated under a set of static points of prevalence. These studies often assumed a fixed value for test sensitivity in their models, but experimental studies showed that pool size and prevalence had significant impacts on test sensitivity in many pooled algorithms 7 , 8 , 14 , 18 – 28 . Braul et al 29 and Cleary et al 10 bridged this gap by considering diluted sensitivities and viral load kinetics of SARS-CoV-2.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing and evaluating PCR-based pooled screening during COVID-19 pandemics

Huang

Shen

2021

Sci Rep

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Population screening played a substantial role in safely reopening the economy and avoiding new outbreaks of COVID-19. PCR-based pooled screening makes it possible to test the population with limited resources by pooling multiple individual samples. Our study compared different population-wide screening methods as transmission-mitigating interventions, including pooled PCR, individual PCR, and antigen screening. Incorporating testing-isolation process and individual-level viral load trajectories into an epidemic model, we further studied the impacts of testing-isolation on test sensitivities. Results show that the testing-isolation process could maintain a stable test sensitivity during the outbreak by removing most infected individuals, especially during the epidemic decline. Moreover, we compared the efficiency, accuracy, and cost of different screening methods during the pandemic. Our results show that PCR-based pooled screening is cost-effective in reversing the pandemic at low prevalence. When the prevalence is high, PCR-based pooled screening may not stop the outbreak. In contrast, antigen screening with sufficient frequency could reverse the epidemic, despite the high cost and the large numbers of false positives in the screening process.

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Pooled testing with replication as a mass testing strategy for the COVID-19 pandemics

Cited by 23 publications

References 9 publications

Group testing: Revisiting the ideas

Group testing: Revisiting the ideas

COVID-19 outbreak in a military unit in Korea

Optimizing and evaluating PCR-based pooled screening during COVID-19 pandemics

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