INFECTION DIAGNOSTICS :: VIROLOGY TESTING
Our pandemic response enhanced in-house capabilities in virology testing and beyond
By Sonia Benhamed, PharmD, SMB(ASCP); Michael Mihalov, MD R
eflecting on the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the memories are painful—the desperate need for clinical testing when none was available; quickly developing
novel molecular COVID tests with the majority being imper- fect; establishing and maintaining safe practices for handling COVID samples in the lab. Through teamwork and innovation, we persevered, eventually ramping up to perform 2,000 tests per day and, after three years, over 900,000 COVID molecular assays in total.1
This feat was achieved thanks in no small part to
our industry partners, who maximized their expertise in devel- oping some of the best nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) available—with sophisticated technology such as transcription mediated amplification (TMA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to provide clinical labs with highly sensitive, reproducible, easy-to-use assays for SARS CoV2. Overcoming the challenges of the pandemic made us a better lab. Our lab has been utilizing NAATs based on TMA technology for years, chosen for their excellent performance as well as the reduced likelihood of inhibition and contamination. Now, equipped with automated, easy-to-use molecular testing platforms and an expanded menu of in-house assays, we are
26 | SEPTEMBER 2023
MLO-ONLINE.COM
becoming more effective advisors to our patients’ healthcare teams, and at the same time, training our staff in new skills like viral load (VL) assays to meet the dynamic clinical testing needs of the future. The diagnostic testing system we rely on today is easy to obtain and master, and we can now address clinical needs like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a natural extension of the women’s health and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing we have provided for years. The ways in which we have learned to maximize on our COVID-era investments are strategies that any hospital or community lab can apply, regardless of size, workforce, and testing volume.
Leveraging lessons learned at the local labs to control HIV and HCV The healthcare community has made significant progress in caring for and treating people living with HIV. Over 50% of U.S. HIV-positive patients were older than 50 by 2016, and that population is expected to be ~70% by 2030.2
The cumulative
effects of a larger population being monitored for HIV, plus that population living longer, forecasts a more acute need for
19338152 © Luchschen |
Dreamstime.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
