The COVID-19: Nasopharyngeal Swabs module is part of the Pathogens in Augmented Reality (PathogenAR) mobile app. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is routinely detected via collection of specimens from the surface of the respiratory mucosa followed by a laboratory technique called RT-PCR. There can be mild, unavoidable discomfort associated with this test due to the shape of the nasal cavity and the distance the swab must travel to reach its target: the nasopharynx. In this module, you will perform a virtual nasopharyngeal swab sample collection and take a look inside the nasal cavity to explore the anatomy of this region.
Below is a list of resources to support this module.
Models in NIH 3D Print Exchange
Read more about the NIH 3D Print Exchange
Other Resources
References
- Marty FM, Chen K, Verrill KA. How to obtain a nasopharyngeal swab specimen. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(22):e76.
- Wang H, Liu Q, Hu J, Zhou M, Yu M-Q, Li K-Y, et al. Nasopharyngeal swabs are more sensitive than oropharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 diagnosis and monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 load. Front Med (Lausanne). 2020;7:334.
- Wyllie AL, Fournier J, Casanovas-Massana A, Campbell M, Tokuyama M, Vijayakumar P, et al. Saliva or nasopharyngeal swab specimens for detection of SARS-CoV-2. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(13):1283–6.
- Brüning J, Hildebrandt T, Heppt W, Schmidt N, Lamecker H, Szengel A, et al. Characterization of the airflow within an average geometry of the healthy human nasal cavity. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):3755.