Comparative diagnostic performance of saliva PCR and dried blood spot PCR for congenital cytomegalovirus detection: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Benedict Osei Tawiah, Enoch Aninagyei, Ibrahim Anyass Goumboundi, Nana Gyeni Ntim, Richard K. D. Ephraim, Theophilus Adiku · 2026
Read Comparative diagnostic performance of saliva PCR and dried blood spot PCR for congenital cytomegalovirus detection: a systematic review and meta-analysis by Benedict Osei Tawiah, Enoch Aninagyei, Ibrahim Anyass Goumboundi, Nana Gyeni Ntim, Richard K. D. Ephraim, Theophilus Adiku (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13289333.txt.
Description
Benedict Osei Tawiah and co-authors compare two newborn tests for a virus that can silently damage hearing and development. Their 2026 review pools 19 studies covering over 100,000 babies tested for congenital cytomegalovirus. One method runs PCR on saliva; the other uses dried blood spots, the cards already collected in many screening programs.
Saliva testing caught about 95 percent of true cases with near-perfect accuracy on negatives. Blood spot testing caught only about 72 percent, though its negatives were also highly reliable. The saliva edge was statistically clear across studies. The authors back saliva as the first choice where clinics can manage it, with blood spots as a workable stand-in for large or low-resource programs.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Benedict Osei Tawiah, Enoch Aninagyei, Ibrahim Anyass Goumboundi, Nana Gyeni Ntim, Richard K. D. Ephraim, Theophilus Adiku |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 40 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |