Two Pandemics, One Challenge-Leveraging Molecular Test Capacity of Tuberculosis Laboratories for Rapid COVID-19 Case-Finding

In many settings, the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic coincides with other major public health threats, in particular tuberculosis. Using tuberculosis (TB) molecular diagnostic infrastructure, which has substantially expanded worldwide in recent years, for COVID-19 case-finding might...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emerging infectious diseases 2020-11, Vol.26 (11), p.2549-2554
Main Authors: Homolka, Susanne, Paulowski, Laura, Andres, Sönke, Hillemann, Doris, Jou, Ruwen, Günther, Gunar, Claassens, Mareli, Kuhns, Martin, Niemann, Stefan, Maurer, Florian P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Betacoronavirus
Capacity Building
Clinical Laboratory Techniques - standards
Control
coronavirus disease
Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis
Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 Testing
Diagnosis
Diagnostic services
Epidemics
Germany
Humans
Laboratories
Laboratories - organization & administration
Molecular diagnostic techniques
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis
Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology
Quality Control
Quality management
respiratory infections
SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis - diagnosis
Tuberculosis - epidemiology
Two Pandemics, One Challenge—Leveraging Molecular Test Capacity of Tuberculosis Laboratories for Rapid COVID-19 Case-Finding
viruses
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Summary:In many settings, the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic coincides with other major public health threats, in particular tuberculosis. Using tuberculosis (TB) molecular diagnostic infrastructure, which has substantially expanded worldwide in recent years, for COVID-19 case-finding might be warranted. We analyze the potential of using TB diagnostic and research infrastructures for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing. We focused on quality control by adapting the 12 Quality System Essentials framework to the COVID-19 and TB context. We conclude that diagnostic infrastructures for TB can in principle be leveraged to scale-up SARS-CoV-2 testing, in particular in resource-poor settings. TB research infrastructures also can support sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 to study virus evolution and diversity globally. However, fundamental principles of quality management must be followed for both TB and SARS-CoV-2 testing to ensure valid results and to minimize biosafety hazards, and the continuity of TB diagnostic services must be guaranteed at all times.
ISSN:1080-6040
1080-6059
DOI:10.3201/eid2611.202602