By Marylou Gibson, Ph.D. Background on 2019 Novel Coronavirus The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) continues to spread within China (as of this posting date). Cases are spreading beyond Hubei province, and thousands of infected people have been reported in more…
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The 2019 #CreepyCultures results are in! It wasn’t easy choosing only a few winners and honorable mentions out of all the truly creepy agar art you submitted this year. Congratulations to the winners and honorable mentions, and thank you to…
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Read Next – Clinical Lab Best Practices: A Practical Guide to Acing Your Next Inspection
Halloween is once again upon us and #CreepyCultures is back! Your intricate microbe illustrations left us in awe last year. We can’t wait to see what you conjure up for 2019! Unleash your creative side and send us your creepiest,…
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We’ve teamed up with experienced CAP auditor, Joslyn Pribble, to help clinical labs navigate CAP and COLA/CMS/CLIA requirements. Through a series of webinars and blog posts, we’re aiming to provide you with lab best practices so you can ace your…
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Gram staining is an important procedure all microbiologists should master. A laboratorian performs a Gram stain for many reasons – from screening the quality of a sputum sample to rapid presumptive diagnosis of an illness like bacterial meningitis. How to…
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Read Next – 7 Streak Plate Best Practices
Last week we shared the Clinical Case File of a patient with persistent dysuria and asked our readers to determine the cause of the symptom. Here are the poll results: Adenovirus (4%, 7 Votes) Herpes simplex virus (9%, 21 Votes)…
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Read the case study below and then use your microbiology expertise to determine which pathogen is causing the symptoms. The results will be shared on August 1, 2019. Good luck! Background: Determining which sexually transmitted infection (STI) is causing uncomfortable…
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In 2016, two biologists from Indiana University estimated that there are about a trillion species of bacteria on earth.1 With so many choices, how can a teacher select the best strains for her microbiology class? Below are a few tips…
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