id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-294912-xl0wzi16	Alteri, Claudia	Detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 by droplet digital PCR in real-time PCR negative nasopharyngeal swabs from suspected COVID-19 patients	2020-09-08		.txt	text/plain	3630	216	49	Since SARS-CoV-2-based disease (COVID-19) spreads as a pandemic, the necessity of a highly sensitive molecular diagnosis that can drastically reduce false negatives reverse transcription PCR (rtPCR) results, raises as a major clinical need. ddPCR-based assay detected SARS-CoV-2 genome in nasopharyngeal samples of 19 (34.5%) patients (median viral-load: 128 copies/mL, IQR: 72–345). Thanks to a ddPCR-based assay, we achieved a rapid and accurate SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis in rtPCR-negative respiratory samples of individuals with COVID-19 suspect, allowing the rapid taking care and correct management of these patients. In this study, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 genome was evaluated in 55 SARS-CoV-2 rtPCR negative nasopharyngeal swabs from COVID-19 suspected patients thanks to a quantitative ad hoc designed assay based on ddPCR. This proof-of-concept study shows that an in-house ddPCR-based assay can allow an efficient detection of SARS-CoV-2 at low copy number in symptomatic cases resulted negative by standard rtPCR.	./cache/cord-294912-xl0wzi16.txt	./txt/cord-294912-xl0wzi16.txt