Saliva and Sweat Testing With Drugwipe®

Abstract

Drugwipe® (Securetec Detektions-Systeme AG) is a pen-size detector for illegal drugs in saliva, in sweat, and on surfaces. It was first launched in 1995 to support drug law-enforcement police in their operations against smuggling and dealing of contraband. In 1996 the US Office for National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) tested Drugwipe for its accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in detecting invisible traces of narcotics on surfaces (1). Since then, Drugwipe has been included in the technology transfer program of ONDCP.With the increasing interest in saliva and sweat testing on the part of traffic police, the Drugwipe device has been significantly improved over the years. Today, Drugwipe is available for the detection of cocaine, opiates, cannabinoids, benzodiazepines, and amphetamines/methamphetamines (“ecstasy”). Drugwipe can be used to test oral fluids or sweat samples, or to detect invisible traces of narcotics. Commercially available Drugwipes include single, twin, and five-panel configurations. Drugwipe is especially designed for on-site applications and combines easy and rapid sampling with fast analysis. Drugwipe is used widely in Germany as a routine sweat or saliva test for roadside screening for driving under the influence of drugs (DUID). In the current Roadside Testing Assessment (ROSITA) II project, Drugwipe is under evaluation as a saliva test. The basic technology for analysis is lateral-flow immunoassay (see Chapters 3–6).This chapter will first describe the technological basis of Drugwipe, including its major technical features. The second part will cover the various evaluation studies that have been performed using Drugwipe under controlled and general field conditions. Some of the data are not yet published.Drugwipe can detect various benzodiazepines to as low as 5 ng/mL, and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can be detected at 30 ng/mL. These sensitivities are currently unique for point-of-collection oral fluid/sweat test kits. The second part of this paper summarizes various published and unpublished data from trials and studies under controlled and general field conditions. Based on 1763 cases, a statistical evaluation by traffic police in Germany shows that more than 97% of all positive Drugwipe sweat tests are confirmed with positive blood results.KeywordsSaliva SampleOral FluidCapture ZoneSweat TestTraffic PoliceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.