Foreword
New challenges ahead Mark Reed – European General Manager, Pro-Lab Diagnostics
The last few years have certainly presented challenges to all areas of diagnostics testing, be it within laboratories themselves or in the IVD manufacturing industry. Some of these challenges have now subsided, however, many remain with us yet to be worked through completely as they become part of the new market we are now in. We may be out of the worst of the
SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but the changes it brought are still with us and will need watching for many years to come, especially as we enter the uncertainty of the winter virus season. Winter is upon us now, are we really prepared as best we can be? Is it possible to simply tell the difference
between being ill with COVID-19 or the flu? Unlikely. It is difficult for healthcare professionals to distinguish between the infections based on symptoms alone; they can both cause fever, chills, sore throat, etc. As we approached the 2022-2023 flu season, cases were on the rise, it was critically important for healthcare providers to be able to simultaneously detect and differentiate between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza. That said, did we see the numbers of expected cases of flu? We are now approaching the 2023-2024 flu season, perhaps with caution, as the last flu season was somewhat atypical. In a ‘normal’ year, the World Health Organization estimates there are around 1 billion cases of the flu around the globe, while reports show, “major reductions in influenza activity” in mid- to late-2020. The 2022-2023 flu season was different from previous years as safety precautions such as
quarantine, social distancing, and mask requirements that were implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19 infection also drastically reduced seasonal flu activity. Going into the 2023-2024 flu season, with many restrictions having been lifted for many months, experts warn we may see a surge in both influenza and COVID-19 infections. With the looming threat of increased infections and inability to distinguish between flu and COVID-19 symptoms, how can doctors accurately diagnose patients? When patients present severe acute respiratory symptoms, experts recommend the use of diagnostic multiplex testing, designed to detect multiple viruses in the same specimen to determine the source of infection. The European CDC is also issuing stern
precautionary warnings. This is where our industry will continue to
unite in providing the best possible solutions for testing and working closely with all laboratories as required.
THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE INDUSTRY HANDBOOK 2024 l 7
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