An Interview with a Diagnostic Laboratory Director For every major challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, many lesser-known difficulties have multiplied the complexities of laboratory diagnostics. Logistical issues, for example, continue to impact the speed and efficiency of COVID-19 testing. Although…
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The CDC and other health organizations recognize July as International Group B Streptococcus (Group B Strep, GBS) month. In many ways, Group B Strep seems somewhat harmless, remaining asymptomatic for most healthy adults who carry the bacteria. Yet the same…
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According to the World Health Organization, over one million sexually transmitted infections are contracted every day. Infection rates have been steadily increasing, reaching new records each year since 2014, but public awareness of STIs is not keeping pace. How much…
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What if the latest tech device had all the bells and whistles everyone wanted and was far better than anything currently being sold, but the marketer was told he could not sell it until all the previous versions of his…
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Less than 20 years ago, STIs were at historic lows. Syphilis was close to elimination. In 2021, however, sexually transmitted infections are at an all-time high, yet the importance of prevention and screening seems to have fallen by the wayside….
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In a time when we have come to rely on medical laboratory professionals more and more, we also run the risk of taking their work for granted. Their work is so integral to our health and everyday life that most…
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About every 22 seconds, someone dies from Tuberculosis. As the deadliest bacterial infection worldwide, Tuberculosis causes or contributes to 1-1.5 million deaths per year, recently surpassing HIV as the deadliest single infectious agent. Around ten million people become sick with…
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A typical flu season presents significant challenges for medical laboratories with increased demand and pressure for providing quick and accurate diagnostic testing. But what happens when you combine this already demanding time with the global COVID-19 pandemic? No one can…
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The Critical Role of QC in Every Stage of Assay Development and Usage For anyone of us involved in medical laboratory or public health laboratory testing, we understand the critical importance of clinical quality control (QC). With the ongoing fallout…
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For a highly infectious virus like SARS-CoV-2, an inactivated whole virus control is the gold standard for accuracy. For labs that opt for other control formats, synthetic RNA controls can provide many of the same qualities as inactivated whole virus…
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