Health Diagnostics
Post categorized under: Health Diagnostics
All too often in the conversation COVID-19 testing, two factors are lost: Pragmatism and Cost. Our Microarray platform can deliver highly effective Pooled Surveillance at a dramatically lower cost than individual testing and we are the proven alternative in Variant Identification—results in a fraction of the time and cost of NGS. The world is coming around to our way of thinking.
- Digital Health: An Opportunity to Advance Health Equity
To the benefit of many, the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in widespread acceptance of telehealth and other digital innovations in medicine, accelerating that health solutions have the potential to make healthcare more equitable for all. To the benefit of many, COVID-19 may have unintentionally forced us into a digital health revolution.
- Ensuring the Fairness of Algorithms that Predict Patient Disease Risk
Do I treat the patient? This is an extremely difficult decision, so many turn to disease risk prediction models. These models forecast which patients are more or less likely to develop disease, but latest efforts are trying to assure the models are fair.
- A look Inside the US Cleanroom Market
The infection control sector is intrinsically intertwined with the engineering sector, and any major change in demand and needs causes a domino effect in the other. In the US microbiology sector, it is not just the capacity that is being pushed to the extreme, but also the capabilities. Not only is it now expected to test for the pathogenic bacteria in the product, but also narrow it down to a sub-type.
- What to Know About New SARS-CoV-2 Subvariant BA.5
BA.5, the newest COVID-19 subvariant of the Omicron family comes with a new problem. It is more contagious and appears to be both vaccine and immunity resistant, meaning even those who have had COVID before are not protected. Even if you’ve had Omicron recently, you’re not going to get that Get Out of Jail Free card that we’ve all been relying on the past two years.
- Two Vietnamese officials are arrested in a corruption scandal over SARS-CoV-2 testing kits
Vietnam’s health minister and the mayor of Hanoi were removed from their posts and arrested this week after being accused of playing a part in a COVID-19 test kit scandal. Tied to a long-running price-fixing investigation, Viet A Technology Corporation is accused by the authorities of marking up the price of kits to detect COVID-19. Kits were marked up by as much as 45%.
- Misuse of home SARS-CoV-2 tests could lead to viral spread
Currently 90% of tests are over the counter, and maybe 10% are lab-based PCR tests when attempting to detect COVID-19. Yes, home tests give quick results. Just one problem with those quick results: they can be wrong, especially if the tests are used too early in an infection.
- COVID-19 testing plunges dramatically leaving experts struggling to track pandemic
Testing has dropped 70% to 90% worldwide from the first to the second quarter of this year — the opposite of what they say should be happening with new SARS-CoV-2 Clade Variants like Omicron on the rise in places such as the United States and South Africa. As testing plummets, it becomes much tougher for scientists to track the course of the pandemic and spot new, worrisome viral mutants as they emerge and spread.
- FDA: At home SARS-CoV-2 tests can still be used past expiration date
Like food and medications, rapid COVID-19 tests expire—but figuring out when they go bad isn’t easy. With some manufacturers and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extending the expiration date of COVID-19 tests, some people are sceptical. Since rapid tests are relatively new products, companies are collecting much of that data in real time—meaning their expiration dates can and do change.
- WHO urges countries to keep up SARS-CoV-2 testing and surveillance due to emergence of new Variants
The World Health Organization said Wednesday it’s increasingly concerned at the reduction in COVID-19 testing, surveillance and overall monitoring among its member countries, reminding the public that COVID-19 and emerging variants are still circulating at high levels.
- Much of Shanghai locked down as mass COVID-19 testing begins
China began locking down most of its largest city of Shanghai on Monday as a coronavirus outbreak surges and amid questions about the economic toll of the nation’s “zero-COVID” strategy. Reminiscent of 2020, COVID-19 panic buying was reported on Sunday, with supermarket shelves cleared of food, beverages and household items.
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