China Using Anal Swabs to Test for COVID-19 & It’s Reportedly More Accurate

If you’ve ever had a Covid-19 swab test, you’d know that it’s a rather unpleasant procedure.

While samples can be taken from either the nasopharynx (the back of the nose) or from the oropharynx (the back of the throat), a nose swab is the preferred sample source because it has a higher viral load.

In the test, you’ll be asked to tilt your head back, and a long cotton swab will travel all the way up your nose, to places never before explored by humans.

While the swab is up there, it’ll be rotated for a few seconds.

Some have described the feeling as being stabbed in the brain. 

That sounds awful, but if you were given a choice between a nasal swab test and China’s new method of testing, you’d happily shove 20 cotton swabs up your nose.

China Using Anal Swabs to Test for COVID-19 & It’s Reportedly More Accurate

Patient: Doctor, I think I have Covid-19.

Doctor: Okay, take off your pants.

Believe it or not, some Chinese cities are reportedly using anal swab tests to detect potential Covid-19 infections, as some experts believe it’s more accurate than samples taken from the throat.

This new method of testing comes after a group of Chinese researchers conducted a study on some recovering Covid-19 patients last year, according to The Washington Post. 

The results, which were published in a journal in Aug 2020, showed that for some recovering Covid-19 patients, anal swab samples still tested positive after they had tested negative through throat swabs.

“Intriguingly, SARS-CoV-2 detection was positive in the anal swab of two patients and negative in throat swab and sputum samples,” they wrote.

“We propose anal swabs as the potentially optimal specimen for SARS-CoV-2 detection for evaluation of hospital discharge of Covid-19 patients.”

An anal swab test involves inserting a cotton swab 3 to 5 centimetres (1.2 to 2.0 inches) into the anus and gently rotating it.

Yes, it’s exactly like a nose swab, except it’s in your anus; no big deal.

Can Avoid Missing Infections

These tests, which are seen as more accurate, are part of the new measures implemented by the Chinese authorities to curb outbreaks ahead of the Lunar New Year.

According to Reuters, over 1,000 teachers, staffers and students at a primary school in Bejing were given anal swabs after an infection had been found.

Their nose and throat swabs were also collected for testing.

Li Tongzeng, a respiratory and infectious disease doctor, told Reuters that additional tests using anal swabs can avoid missing infections.

This is because virus traces in faecal samples or anal swabs could remain detectable for a longer time than those taken from the upper respiratory tract.

Netizens Horrified & Amused

As you’d expect, news of the novel testing method didn’t exactly excite residents in China.

Some, however, cracked jokes about the situation.

Translation: “Anal swabs: Reality vs netizens’s imagination”

Moreover, a Weibo poll showed that 80% of respondents said they “could not accept” the invasive method.

It’s unclear if other countries will follow suit and adopt this new method of testing.

On the plus side, nasal swabs seem a lot less daunting now.

Featured Image: Horth Rasur / Shutterstock.com