Anal swab coronavirus test...yes or no?

[CoRhona]

China have developed an anal swab coronavirus test.

Would you have it?!

YABU - no bloody way

YANBU - of course, anything to get tested

No thanks - I'll stick with the nasal swab. (We don't have self-testing here, so it's done by health professionals)

I was saying today that I wish there was a Covid test like a pregnancy test where I could just wee on a stick. I'd be all up for an anal swab.

@elQuintoConyo

As long as they're wearing thigh-high boots and rubber gloves, I'm game.

I would LOVE to see this as standard

@saraclara

Seriously, most of us have spent lifetimes sticking tampons up ourselves. Why on earth is anyone freaked out by the idea of a cotton bud up the bum?

It’s not the swab it’s self so much. More that my swabs are done by my colleagues. No thank you.

I'd rather do a butt swab than suffer the tonsil and nose one 🤣

Although not sure if the butt swab would be easy to do in a car 🤣

We do regular tests at work (care home) as much as I love my co workers (and many are really good friends) I don't want to spread their butt checks and stick a swab up their bum

I'd much rather the anal swab! Ok that sounds weird but with nose/throat I know I will gag/wince/feel pain (even if it's not there really). But when I had fertility treatment I had to take progesterone suppositories and once you get used to the weirdness, it was very easy to do. With someone else swabbing (presumably???) in a clinic setting, I think I'd say go for it!

When you do the swab at the back of the throat, you're not supposed to touch the sides of your mouth.

If the same goes for the anal swab you'll have to really spread wide...

@MedusasBadHairDay

Bit awkward at the drive thru testing

Oh wow 😂😂😂😂

Maybe they will use it at the quarantine hotels, people could just bend over in the doorway.

I perform covid swabs (nasal not up the bum) on a regular basis, plus I self-swab twice a week. Please god give me the bum swab any day!

You'll do it yourself, obviously!

Even my normal Covid swab tests have been self-administered. At my local drive through centre, you're given the bag of stuff and the instructions, park up, do the swabbing (with the help of the car vanity mirror when it comes to the tonsil bit) then put your hazard lights on to let them know you're done.

Of course the bum swab would be done at home, just as the postal tests are.

I wondered why people were freaking out! It didn't occur to me that people would think it would be done TO them, rather than BY them.

Speaking as someone old enough to get regular bowel cancer poo tests in the post, I can tell you it really isn't a big deal.

@listsandbudgets

Whatever.... I'm past caring - stick it where you will if it means i can live a vaguely normal life a swab up the bum seems a small price to pay.

Hope they don't introduce it as part of mass testing in schools though

I think I love you! This is exactly the attitude that will save us now :)

Im confused why an anal swab is necessary when its a respiratory disease?

Honestly, from what I've heard about shoving the swab up your own nose, I think I'd prefer it!!

No worries as other posters have said preferable than down the throat or up the nose, less invasive.

@Letsallscreamatthesistene

"Im confused why an anal swab is necessary when its a respiratory disease?"

Because we carry a high viral load in our bowels for longer than we do our nose/throat and shed it for longer via our waste. So it's an accurate way to test. There are groups of people, especially in hospital, on oxygen etc who this test would be better for. As well as some disabled people and younger children. I've had anal swabs done as part of research many years ago, they aren't as uncomfortable as you'd think.

Weird! If I could do it myself I'd have it.

I’ll take the anal swab over the nasal one every time. I have ulcerative colitis and when I have a flare up, I have to shove a foam enema up my bum every night for about 6 months. A tiny swab would barely register.

DH is another matter altogether....I think he’s rather self isolate for the rest of his life than have anything anywhere near his arse.

Seriously, It can't be that much different from wiping your bum, surely? How do all these precious people bring themselves to wipe their behind every day?

@dawnc27

it could be ok but i fear the results could be a bit shitty.....

Rather than up my nose, I've had a few Covid tests now and I hated every one!

@Plussizejumpsuit

Well the swab for your nose is only the width of a cotton bud. I'd rather but thst up my arse than in my nose. It's very sneeze inducing up the nose. But I think if it was just a small swab it wouldn't be very noticeable up the bum.

My nose swab ( pcr) was far far thinner than a cotton bud

They want teachers to test students when we go back. Nose I could handle, but I am not sticking anything up a student's bum.