diagnostics
Special Issue Letter to the EditorTest Agreement between Roche Cobas 6800 and Cepheid GeneXpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 Assays at High Cycle Threshold Ranges
Special Issue VirologyEvaluation of the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel, the First Rapid Multiplex PCR Commercial Assay for SARS-CoV-2 DetectionIn the race to contain severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), efficient detection and triage of infected patients must rely on rapid and reliable testing. In this work, we performed the first evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx respiratory SARS-CoV-2 panel (QIAstat-SARS) for SARS-CoV-2 detection. This assay is the first rapid multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay, including SARS-CoV-2 detection, and is fully compatible with a non-...
BacteriologyAdapting Microarray Gene Expression Signatures for Early Melioidosis DiagnosisMelioidosis is caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei and is predominantly seen in tropical regions. The clinical signs and symptoms of the disease are nonspecific and often result in misdiagnosis, failure of treatment, and poor clinical outcome. Septicemia with septic shock is the most common cause of death, with mortality rates above 40%. Bacterial culture is the gold...
Clinical Veterinary MicrobiologyResolution of Streptococcus suis Serotypes 1/2 versus 2 and 1 versus 14 by PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism MethodStreptococcus suis is an important pathogen of pigs but is also transmissible to humans, with potentially fatal consequences. Among 29 serotypes currently recognized, some are clinically and epidemiologically more important than others. This is particularly true for serotypes 2 and 14, which have a large impact on pig production and also on human health. Conventional...
BacteriologyA Sample-to-Report Solution for Taxonomic Identification of Cultured Bacteria in the Clinical Setting Based on Nanopore SequencingAmplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene is commonly used for the identification of bacterial isolates in diagnostic laboratories and mostly relies on the Sanger sequencing method. The latter, however, suffers from a number of limitations, with the most significant being the inability to resolve mixed amplicons when closely related species are coamplified from a mixed culture. This often leads to either increased turnaround time or...
ImmunoassaysThe Lyme Disease Biobank: Characterization of 550 Patient and Control Samples from the East Coast and Upper Midwest of the United StatesLyme disease (LD) is an increasing public health problem. Current laboratory testing is insensitive in early infection, the stage at which appropriate treatment is most effective in preventing disease sequelae. The Lyme Disease Biobank (LDB) collects samples from individuals with symptoms consistent with early LD presenting with or without erythema migrans (EM) or an annular, expanding skin lesion and uninfected individuals from areas...
ParasitologyRecombinase Polymerase Amplification and Lateral Flow Assay for Ultrasensitive Detection of Low-Density Plasmodium falciparum Infection from Controlled Human Malaria Infection Studies and Naturally Acquired InfectionsMicroscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are the main diagnostic tools for malaria but fail to detect low-density parasitemias that are important for maintaining malaria transmission. To complement existing diagnostic methods, an isothermal reverse transcription-recombinase polymerase amplification and lateral flow assay (RT-RPA) was developed. We compared the performance with that of ultrasensitive reverse transcription-...
ImmunoassaysProspective Evaluation of the mariPOC Test for Detection of Clostridioides difficile Glutamate Dehydrogenase and Toxins A/BThe objective of this study was to evaluate a novel automated random-access test, mariPOC CDI (ArcDia Ltd., Finland), for the detection of Clostridioides difficile glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and toxins A and B directly from fecal specimens. The mariPOC test was compared with both the GenomEra C....
BacteriologyDifferentiation of Francisella tularensis Subspecies and SubtypesThe highly infectious and zoonotic pathogen Francisella tularensis is the etiologic agent of tularemia, a potentially fatal disease if untreated. Despite the high average nucleotide identity, which is >99.2% for the virulent subspecies and >98% for all four subspecies, including the opportunistic microbe...
BacteriologyEvaluation of the ResistancePlus MG FleXible Assay for Detection of Wild-Type and 23S rRNA-Mutated Mycoplasma genitalium StrainsAntibiotic resistance in Mycoplasma genitalium is rising globally, and resistance-guided diagnostics can facilitate targeted and timely treatment. The ResistancePlus MG FleXible (RPMG Flex) assay for the detection of M. genitalium and macrolide resistance-mediating mutations (MRMM) was evaluated for...