Pilot study of participant-collected nasal swabs for acute respiratory infections in a low-income, urban population

Vargas, Celibell Y; Wang, Liqun; Castellanos de Belliard, Yaritza; Morban, Maria; Diaz, Hilbania; Larson, Elaine L; LaRussa, Philip; Saiman, Lisa; Stockwell, Melissa S

This pilot study was a component of an ongoing 5-year community-based ARI/ILI surveillance study, which includes a cohort of 250 households. 7 Participants are from a primarily immigrant Latino population in Northern Manhattan in New York City. Northern Manhattan is one of the most disadvantaged areas in New York City; 43.7% of the population receives federal income support. 8 As part of the ongoing study, families answer twice-weekly text messages to report ARI/ILI-associated symptoms among household members. Phone calls are used by research staff to follow-up on positive reports. If ARI/ILI criteria are met, a home visit is scheduled and a nasal swab is obtained from symptomatic participants by the research staff. 7 From January 7 to 23, 2014, after the swabs were collected for the primary study by the research staff, each participant was asked to obtain a nasal swab later that day, either from themselves (if they were $17 years old) or from their symptomatic child. The Columbia University Medical Center Institutional Review Board approved this study with use of an information sheet and verbal consent. For volunteers, the study team demonstrated how to obtain a nasal swab. Written instructions (English and Spanish) were also provided. Participants were provided with a self-swab kit and a pre-addressed, prestamped mailer that followed the US Postal Service guidelines for biological substances. 9 Participants were advised that if the swab was not sent the day it was obtained, it should be stored in the refrigerator. The research staff followed up by telephone the next day to confirm that the self-swab was obtained and sent. Each participant obtaining the self-swab received a round-trip New York City MetroCard (value US$5.00) when the specimen was received.