Unless you’ve been living under a rock- we’re in a global pandemic. By now, you’ve probably had the pleasure of having your brain tickled through your nose via nasal swab, fretting that your annual winter cold is actually the plague. 

Whilst most of us can handle the violation that is a nasal swab, testing children can be tricky. To combat the necessary evil of nasal swabbing for diagnostic tests, Rhinomed (ASX: RNO) has developed a nasal swab designed specifically for children. The Rhinoswab Junior™ is designed to make swabbing children easier, eliminating fear, anxiety and trauma associated with the use of traditional nasal swabs. 

The Junior version is a similar design to their existing nasal swab which offers 100% accuracy for the detection of SARS-COV-2 and is approved for sale as a Class 1 device in Europe (CE marked), Australia (TGA approved) and the United States (FDA approved). 

The Company has received approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee to begin a clinical trial of the swab at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne where they will assess the usability and results obtained when using their paediatric alternative to deep nasal swabs. 

The study will look at 250 children presenting to the Respiratory Infection Clinic at the hospital for a COVID-19 test where children will self collect the swab sample under the supervision of a trained healthcare professional. 

CEO of Rhinomed, Michael Johnson said: “With SARS-CoV-2 testing now part of our everyday lives, we need easier, more standardised and comfortable sample collection methods to encourage people to get tested. Testing rates in Children remain low due, in no small part to the levels of distress, anxiety and fear children experience when being tested with a standard swab. We have sought to develop a swab that not only works better, but actually removes this fear, anxiety and distress- not just for the children but also for their parents and the nursing staff who need to administer the tests. We are thrilled to be working with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The Royal Children’s Hospital on this vitally important program.” 

Principal Investigator of the study, Dr. Shidan Tosif confirmed that swabbing children is challenging. “Rhinoswab Junior has the potential to turn an otherwise unpleasant experience into a far more relaxed and possibly even fun experience for children. The ability of the child to control the insertion of the device, coupled with the comfort and novelty of the Rhinoswab design, offers major improvement to the user experience.”

At the same cost as regular swabs and with the ability to fit within existing pathology workflows and standard laboratory practices, Rhinomed could be the answer to the global swab supply shortage whilst providing accurate results, and happier kids.