Andrés Melián Rivas; Pablo Calcumil Herrera; Camila Boin Bakit & Rolando Carrasco Soto

Summary

The new coronavirus disease, also called COVID 19, is the latest infectious disease of international concern. Originating in Wuhan, China, it spread globally, resulting in the 2019-2020 pandemic and a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (ESPII) as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). This disease usually presents with fever, cough, sore throat, respiratory distress, fatigue and general discomfort; however, asymptomatic cases have been reported. The diagnosis is made with a combination of clinical, radiological and laboratory molecular tests, where the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test has been the alternative of choice for the analysis of viral genetic material from samples taken of upper respiratory tract. COVID-19 has been reported to be transmitted person-to-person or by indirect fluids drop contact, which is of fundamental importance for clinical dental procedures and where saliva would play a critical role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from human to human. For this reason, non-invasive salivary diagnoses could provide a platform for rapid, early and non-invasive detection of COVID19 infection. The objective of this review is to determine the benefits of saliva as a non-invasive sample for the diagnosis of COVID-19.

KEY WORDS: Saliva, diagnosis, COVID-19, dentistry.

How to cite this article

MELIÁN, R. A.; CALCUMIL, H. P.; BOIN, B. C. & CARRASCO, S. R. Detection of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) by saliva: A low-invasive diagnostic alternative. Int. J. Odontostomat., 14(3):316-320, 2020.