What is a nasal swab

What is a nasal swab

Nasal swab is a medical tool used to collect samples from the nasal cavity. It is widely used in disease diagnosis, especially in respiratory pathogen detection. The following is a detailed introduction for you:
Structural composition: It consists of a swab head and a swab rod. The swab head uses flocking technology, and the villi are dense, which can increase the sample adsorption area and improve the sampling efficiency; the swab rod is usually made of plastic and other materials, with a certain flexibility and length, which is easy to operate and can penetrate into the appropriate position of the nasal cavity.
Usage: When sampling, the head of the person being collected needs to be slightly tilted back. The sampling personnel slowly inserts the nasal swab into one nostril, pushes it back along the bottom of the inferior nasal meatus to reach the nasopharynx, and then gently rotates the swab for a few seconds to absorb enough secretion samples, and then slowly removes the swab. In order to improve the accuracy of the test, the above operation is sometimes repeated on the other nostril.
Scope of application: Mainly used to detect various respiratory pathogens, such as influenza virus, new coronavirus, respiratory syncytial virus, etc. By analyzing the collected samples, it can be determined whether the person being collected is infected with the corresponding virus, which assists in disease diagnosis and treatment.
Advantages: Compared with oropharyngeal swabs, samples collected by nasal swabs may contain higher levels of virus, especially for some early infections or low viral loads, the detection sensitivity may be better; and the possibility of inducing vomiting reflex during sampling is small, and the operation is relatively more convenient. However, nasal swab sampling may cause slight discomfort to the person being collected, such as a sore and swollen nasal cavity.

What does a nasal swab consist of?
The nasal swab is mainly composed of a swab head, a swab rod, and possible break points. Each part plays a different role:
Swab head
Material: Usually made of nylon fiber flocking technology, the villi of this material are small and closely arranged.
Function: The flocked swab head can greatly increase the contact area with the sampling site, thereby efficiently adsorbing samples such as mucus, cells and pathogens in the nasal cavity, ensuring that sufficient and high-quality samples are collected, and improving the accuracy of subsequent testing.
Swab rod

Material: Mostly made of plastic, such as polypropylene (PP), with appropriate hardness and toughness.
Function: On the one hand, it provides support for the swab head so that the sampler can operate it by hand; on the other hand, with its appropriate length and flexibility, the swab rod can help the swab head to smoothly penetrate the nasal cavity to reach the accurate sampling location, such as the nasopharynx, while avoiding excessive damage to the nasal cavity.
Breaking point (available on some nasal swabs)

Location and structure: Generally located at a specific position of the swab rod near the swab head, the diameter of the rod at this position is made thinner or a weak point design is adopted through special processes.

Function: After the sampling is completed, when the swab head needs to be placed in a specific test tube or other container, the swab rod can be easily broken at the breaking point, so that the swab head with the sample remains in the container, which is convenient for the subsequent testing process and avoids the inconvenience caused by the swab rod being too long.