Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of Real time PCR in dried saliva on Guthrie paper in diagnosis of congenital Cytomegalovirus infection.
Methods: This is a prospective, blinded study preformed in a tertiary CMV clinic Between May 2018 and November 2018. We enrolled 33 CMV positive infants and 19 healthy controls and tested them for CMV using PCR from dried saliva on Guthrie paper, and from standard saliva specimens. Specificity and sensitivity of dried saliva PCR versus gold-standard methods were analyzed.
Results: 33 out of 33 (100%) CMV positive infants had positive PCR results in dried saliva. 19 out of 19 (100%) controls had negative PCR results in dried saliva. This method identified congenital CMV infection with a sensitivity of 100% (95% C.I. = 89.57 to 100.00%), and specificity of 100% (95% C.I. = 83.18% to 100.00%). (Preliminary results)
Conclusion: CMV testing with dried saliva real-time PCR had high sensitivity and specificity making it a powerful screening test. The simplicity of sampling saliva on Guthrie paper makes this method a candidate for CMV universal screening programs.
