Jump to content

Search the hub

Showing results for tags 'Testing'.

More search options

  • Search By Tags

    Start to type the tag you want to use, then select from the list.

  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • All
    • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Culture
    • Improving patient safety
    • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Leadership for patient safety
    • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Patient engagement
    • Patient safety in health and care
    • Patient Safety Learning
    • Professionalising patient safety
    • Research, data and insight
    • Miscellaneous

Categories

  • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Commissioning and funding patient safety
    • Digital health and care service provision
    • Health records and plans
    • Innovation programmes in health and care
    • Climate change/sustainability
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Blogs
    • Data, research and statistics
    • Frontline insights during the pandemic
    • Good practice and useful resources
    • Guidance
    • Mental health
    • Exit strategies
    • Patient recovery
    • Questions around Government governance
  • Culture
    • Bullying and fear
    • Good practice
    • Occupational health and safety
    • Safety culture programmes
    • Second victim
    • Speak Up Guardians
    • Staff safety
    • Whistle blowing
  • Improving patient safety
    • Clinical governance and audits
    • Design for safety
    • Disasters averted/near misses
    • Equipment and facilities
    • Error traps
    • Health inequalities
    • Human factors (improving human performance in care delivery)
    • Improving systems of care
    • Implementation of improvements
    • International development and humanitarian
    • Safety stories
    • Stories from the front line
    • Workforce and resources
  • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Investigations and complaints
    • Risk management and legal issues
  • Leadership for patient safety
    • Business case for patient safety
    • Boards
    • Clinical leadership
    • Exec teams
    • Inquiries
    • International reports
    • National/Governmental
    • Patient Safety Commissioner
    • Quality and safety reports
    • Techniques
    • Other
  • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Government and ALB direction and guidance
    • International patient safety
    • Regulators and their regulations
  • Patient engagement
    • Consent and privacy
    • Harmed care patient pathways/post-incident pathways
    • How to engage for patient safety
    • Keeping patients safe
    • Patient-centred care
    • Patient Safety Partners
    • Patient stories
  • Patient safety in health and care
    • Care settings
    • Conditions
    • Diagnosis
    • High risk areas
    • Learning disabilities
    • Medication
    • Mental health
    • Men's health
    • Patient management
    • Social care
    • Transitions of care
    • Women's health
  • Patient Safety Learning
    • Patient Safety Learning campaigns
    • Patient Safety Learning documents
    • Patient Safety Standards
    • 2-minute Tuesdays
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2018
    • Patient Safety Learning Awards 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Interviews
    • Patient Safety Learning webinars
  • Professionalising patient safety
    • Accreditation for patient safety
    • Competency framework
    • Medical students
    • Patient safety standards
    • Training & education
  • Research, data and insight
    • Data and insight
    • Research
  • Miscellaneous

News

  • News

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start
    End

Last updated

  • Start
    End

Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End

Group

First name

Last name

Country

Join a private group (if appropriate)

About me

Organisation

Role

Found 196 results
  1. News Article
    GPs should offer all patients presenting with signs of colorectal cancer a faecal immunochemical test (FIT) to reduce the waiting times for a colonoscopy, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended in draft guidance. The current NICE recommendation is to offer FIT to people presenting to primary care with low risk symptoms suggestive of colorectal cancer, while people with high risk symptoms should be immediately referred to the suspected cancer pathway. However, patients often have lengthy waiting times for colonoscopy because of limited capacity. NICE estimates that the recommendation should lead to 50% fewer referrals for urgent colonoscopies being made by GPs each year. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 5 July 2023
  2. News Article
    A digital NHS Health Check is to be rolled out across England from next spring, the government has announced, in an attempt to alleviate the pressure on GP surgeries. The initiative will deliver 1m checks in the first four years, according to the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). Tens of thousands of cases of hypertension are expected to be identified and hundreds of strokes and heart attacks prevented. Patients will be able to access the check via a mobile phone, tablet or computer, the DHSC said. Participants will complete an online questionnaire, enter height, weight, and the results of a cholesterol test which they can carry out at home. They will also be asked to have their blood pressure checked at a pharmacy. The results, which will be available online, will direct people to personalised advice. Referrals to GPs will only be made if further tests and treatment are needed. Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “This initiative will help to reach more people and encourage them to get their blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked so that, where necessary, healthcare professionals can work with them to manage their condition. “This could play an important role in helping people live healthier for longer and saving lives in the coming years, while reducing pressure on the NHS.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 June 2023
  3. News Article
    Most hospital patients and care home residents in England will no longer be tested for Covid unless they have symptoms, the government has said. From 31 August, NHS and social care staff will also not be offered lateral flow tests unless they fall sick. Free testing for the general public ended in April in England, but continued in some high-risk settings. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "This reflects the fact case rates have fallen and the risk of transmission has reduced, though we will continue to closely monitor the situation and work with sectors to resume testing should it be needed." Read full story Source: BBC News (25 August 2022)
  4. News Article
    A change in pre-eclampsia testing for pregnant women could help save lives. The potentially-fatal condition affects around 6% of women, often during the second half of pregnancy. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) had recommended a test that could only rule out the condition, but now recommends more accurate tests that can diagnose cases. The Welsh government welcomed the new guidance, but said routine screening had not been recommended. Jeanette Kusel, director for scientific advice at NICE, said: "These tests represent a step change in the management and treatment of pre eclampsia. "New evidence presented to the committee shows that these tests can help successfully diagnose pre eclampsia, alongside clinical information for decision-making, rather than just rule it out. "This is extremely valuable to doctors and expectant mothers as now they can have increased confidence in their treatment plans and preparing for a safe birth" Eleri Wyn Foxhall, 32, from Penygroes in Gwynedd had pre-eclampsia in 2020. She welcomes the move, but called for women to be tested routinely. She believes there is a general "lack of information" about pre-eclampsia, and wants more work to be done on early detection. Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 July 2022
  5. News Article
    The UK needs to do more to use diagnostic testing in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the chair of a government-commissioned review on AMR told MPs. Lord O’Neill, an economist and former treasury minister, warned in the review’s final report in 2016 that a continued rise in AMR would lead to 10 million people dying each year by 2050 and made ten recommendations, including the need for rapid diagnostics to reduce unnecessary use of antimicrobials. Speaking to a Commons Science and Technology Committee evidence session on 22 June 2022, Lord O’Neill said that while he was pleased with progress on some of the recommendations published in his review in 2016, especially in the reduction of antimicrobials in agriculture, progress on diagnostics was “woeful”. He said it was “alarming to me how we are not embedding state-of-the-art diagnostic technology right in the middle of our health systems”, adding that it could “really make a huge difference about whether an antibiotic is needed or not, and the right kind of antibiotic”. “Our most aggressive recommendation was that we should ban the use of subjective prescriptions in secondary settings, at least in Western countries, until they’ve gone through a state-of-the-art diagnostics,” he continued. “And nobody’s done it; they claim it’s a vicious circle, the technology isn’t there, but we have to give incentives in order to get this embedded because that would make a permanent difference.” Read full story Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 24 June 2022
  6. News Article
    The NHS is warning about widespread scam text messages telling recipients they have been in close contact with a Covid case. "We've seen reports of fake NHS text messages about ordering Omicron Covid-19 test kits," it tweeted. Close contacts of people who have tested positive are no longer advised to test. The aim of the messages appears to be harvesting financial and personal information. In its alert, the NHS says it will "never ask for bank details, so please be aware of suspicious messages". Most people are no longer advised to test for Covid and are ineligible for free tests - but some some pharmacies and shops sell them. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 June 2022
  7. News Article
    Women are wasting their time and money buying do-at-home menopause testing kits, doctors have warned. The urine tests are not predictive enough to tell whether a woman is going through the phase when her periods will stop, doctors have told the BBC. The tests, which give a result within minutes, accurately measure levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which helps manage the menstrual cycle. But experts say it is not a reliable marker of the menopause or perimenopause. Dr Annice Mukherjee, a leading menopause and hormone doctor from the Society of Endocrinology, told the BBC the FSH urine tests were “another example of exploitation of midlife women by the commercial menopause industry, who have financial conflicts of interest”. “It’s not helpful for women to access [FSH] directly,” she said. “It is not a reliable marker of perimenopause and can cause more confusion among women taking the test. At worst, misinterpretation of results can cause harm.” The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), along with other leading experts in women’s health, said the tests could be unhelpful and potentially misleading. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 June 2022
  8. News Article
    One million checks for cancer, heart and lung disease have been carried out at new diagnostic clinics in football stadiums and shopping centres, the NHS has reported. In the past year, 92 “one-stop shop” centres offering scans, x-rays and blood tests have been opened in an effort to tackle the Covid care backlog after NHS waiting lists in England soared to a record 6.4 million patients. The NHS said it will open a further 70 centres, which will operate seven days a week and allow patients to get symptoms checked “on their doorstep” following GP referrals. The centres are staffed by nurses and radiographers who can carry out a range of diagnostic tests, including cancer scans. This means patients can get multiple tests in one visit, rather than having to make several different trips to a hospital. Professor Charles Swanton, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, said the rapid diagnostic clinics were improving access to lifesaving treatment. Speaking at the world’s largest cancer conference in Chicago, he said: “Individuals with red-flag cancer symptoms — blood in the stool, persistent cough — can bypass the bureaucratic and lengthy standard approaches to getting investigated in hospital.” However, Swanton warned that without action to address the “chronic shortage” of 110,000 NHS staff, the new centres risked “robbing Peter to pay Paul” by taking doctors and nurses away from hospitals. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 6 June 2022
  9. News Article
    British health officials are preparing plans to deploy lateral flow tests if signs emerge that avian flu has begun to spread from one person to another. The programme would provide rapid information about the dangers posed by the disease. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is also working on blood tests to detect antibodies against the virus and officials will analyse the disease’s genetic mutations to reveal data about the increased risk to human health from avian flu. The moves follow last week’s news that an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia has died from H5N1, the flu strain that is being spread around the globe by migrating birds and is infecting poultry farms. At present, evidence suggests the H5N1 virus does not pass easily to people although scientists have urged care and caution. “The risk to humans is still very low, but it’s important that we continue to monitor circulation of flu in both bird and mammal populations", said Prof Jonathan Ball, of Nottingham University. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 February 2023
  10. News Article
    Free HIV tests that can be done at home are being offered this week to people in England. It is part of a government drive to improve diagnosis, which dropped off during the Covid pandemic. The kit is small enough to fit through the letterbox and arrives in plain packaging through the post. It gives a result within 15 minutes by testing a drop of blood from a finger prick. A "reactive" result means HIV is possible and a clinic check is needed. Support and help is available to arrange this. About 4,400 people in England are living with undiagnosed HIV, which comes with serious health risks. HIV medication can keep the virus at undetectable levels, meaning you cannot pass HIV on and your health is protected. Most people get the virus from someone who is unaware they have it, according to the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) charity which campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. HIV testing rates remain a fifth lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic - with heterosexual men in particular now testing far less than in 2019. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 February 2023
  11. News Article
    Concerns raised about dangerous discrepancies at a Covid testing lab which has since been blamed for causing an estimated 23 deaths were ignored by health officials for months. Documents show Public Health Wales flagged "significant concerns" about results from Immensa, in Wolverhampton, in letters to colleagues in England. They were told nothing was wrong and testing continued for six months. Letters were released after a Freedom of Information request by the Times. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said as many as 39,000 positive results were wrongly reported as negative in September and October 2021, mostly originating from south-west England. Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 January 2023
  12. News Article
    Strep A home-testing kits have sold out online as parents rush to find ways to diagnose their children’s rashes and high temperatures. The panic-buying follows the deaths of at least 16 children from invasive strep A infections in the UK. As infections and deaths from strep A have risen over the past few weeks, parents have turned to tests that involve a long cotton swab that is lightly passed over the back of the throat. Solutions and a strip test are then used to display results. These tests are now being sold online for more than £100, while some retailers have reported selling out after demand soared over the past few days. Other suppliers have warned customers that they will not be able to get hold of a test until after Christmas. One online retailer told customers that they would not be able to get the products until mid-January. Others said they were awaiting deliveries but “there may be delays beyond our control”. Strep A tests are not sold in England through the NHS because the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – which approves and advises on clinical care – has said their accuracy is uncertain and likely to be “highly variable”. Scotland has not approved them either, though in Wales people can buy them over the counter for £7.50. “We’re not advising using those [tests] for the time being,” Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said on Friday. “It is a clinical diagnosis. It is not too difficult to make. So long as the parent watches their child and brings their child in, then we are more than happy to see them.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2022
  13. News Article
    At least 100,000 people across the UK have had their lives put at risk over the last decade because of delays to them getting tested or treated for cancer, a new report claims. In some cases, patients’ treatment options narrowed or their cancer spread or became incurable as a direct result of their long waits for NHS care, according to Macmillan Cancer Support. The “inhumane” impact of delays on patients is “shameful”, it said, blaming ministers across the four home nations for underfunding and not tackling staff shortages in cancer services. “I’ve had patients arrive for their radical chemotherapy appointment, who wait three hours only to be told that because of staff shortages we can’t deliver their treatment today. It’s inhumane”, said Naman Julka-Anderson, an advanced practice therapeutic radiographer who is also an allied health professional clinical adviser for Macmillan. Many waited longer than 62 days to start treatment – surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy – after a GP referred them as an urgent case, the charity’s analysis of official NHS data found. At least 100,000 of those 180,000 people have seen their symptoms worsen, or their cancer progress or their chances reduce of successfully being treated because they have had to wait. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 June 2023
  14. News Article
    Grail, a company that developed blood tests to detect cancer, mistakenly sent approximately 400 customers letters saying they might be positive for the disease, The New York Times has reported. Grail's Galleri test uses blood to detect cancer signals shared by 50 types of cancers and is available only by prescription, according to the report. Grail said in a statement that one of its vendors sent hundreds of letters with incorrect test results due to a "software configuration issue." "No patient health information has been disclosed or breached due to this issue, and no patient harm or adverse events have been reported," Grail's statement said. The issue was not caused by incorrect test results, according to the company. More than half of people who received the erroneous letter had not yet had their blood drawn for the test. PWNHealth said in a statement that the system it uses to send template messages to people had a "misconfiguration." Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 4 June 2023
  15. News Article
    A blood test for more than 50 types of cancer has shown real promise in a major NHS trial, researchers say. The test correctly revealed two out of every three cancers among 5,000 people who had visited their GP with suspected symptoms, in England or Wales. In 85% of those positive cases, it also pinpointed the original site of cancer. The Galleri test looks for distinct changes in bits of genetic code that leak from different cancers. Spotting treatable cancer early can save lives. The test remains very much a "work in progress", the researchers, from Oxford University, say, but could increase the number of cancers identified. Read full story Source: BBS News, 2 June 2023
  16. News Article
    Investors are pouring billions into companies claiming they can analyse DNA to find the disease early. But some scientists question if they really work. A pioneering group of people in the US and UK who have elected to take part in a new form of cancer screening known as multi-cancer early detection tests (MCED). The tests use gene sequencing or other novel technologies to detect fragments of DNA expelled by cancerous cells which circulate in people’s blood, allowing the identification of multiple types of cancer from a single blood draw. They have been hailed as “revolutionary” and “cutting edge” by British and US health chiefs. Health bodies in both nations have set up MCED clinical trials in the hope that the tests can be rolled out to the population at large. The UK’s NHS is participating in a clinical trial of the Galleri test involving 140,000 patients. But not everyone is convinced the tests live up to the hype. Several health experts and scientists told the Financial Times that the tests could harm rather than help some patients due to risks associated with misdiagnosis, over-diagnosis and over-treatment. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Financial Times, 17 May 2023
  17. News Article
    A virus carried by ticks, which is common in many parts of the world, is now present in the UK and health officials are reminding the public how to avoid bites from the tiny bugs. They say the risk of tick-borne encephalitis is very low—only one person is confirmed to have been infected in England so far, last year. But the tick species which carries the virus is widespread in the UK. Most people do not develop symptoms but swelling to the brain is possible. The UK Health Security Agency has recommended changes to testing in hospital so that any new cases can be picked up quickly. Health officials say anyone who becomes unwell after a tick bite should see a GP. More serious symptoms to look out for include severe headache, stiff neck, unexplained seizure, sudden confusion and weakness in arms and legs. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 April 2023
  18. News Article
    Covid testing is being scaled back even further in England from April. It is part of the "living with Covid" approach that relies on vaccines to keep people safe. Most staff and patients in hospitals and care homes will no longer be given swab tests, even if they have symptoms. Some will though, such as staff working with severely immunocompromised patients or if there is an outbreak on a ward or in a hospice or prison, for example. The long-running Office for National Statistics Covid infection survey that estimated how many people in the community had the virus each week - based on nose and throat swabs from volunteers - has already come to an end. The final one suggested 1.7 million people - about one out of every 35 (2.7%) - had Covid in the week ending 13 March, a14% rise on the previous week. But the UK Health Security Agency says thanks to the continuing success of the vaccination programme, testing in England can now become more like the approach used for other common respiratory infections such as flu. Read full story Source: BBC News, 30 March 2023
  19. News Article
    Private companies are offering “misleading” home blood-testing kits that fuel health anxieties and pile pressure on the NHS, a report has suggested. There has been a boom in sales of the kits, which promise to reveal everything from cancer risk to how long patients can expect to live. But an investigation by the BMJ found these “unnecessary and potentially invasive tests” can be misleading and generate false alarms. The NHS is then left to “clear up the mess” as worried patients see GPs for reassurance or extra tests, piling more pressure on the overstretched service. One GP described patients coming in “clutching the results of private screening tests”, with doctors asked to review the results. The companies have been criticised for not providing sufficient follow-ups after the “poor quality and overhyped” tests, and for misleading results such as wrongly telling people their test levels are outside the “normal” range. Bernie Croal, president of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine, said: “Most of the online [tests] will send the results to the patient with at best a sort of asterisk next to the ones that are abnormal, with advice to either pay some more money to get some sort of health professional to speak about it or go and see your own GP.” Doctors are calling for the tests to be more tightly regulated by the health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 27 October 2022
  20. News Article
    Very sick babies and children will be diagnosed and start treatment more quickly thanks to a “revolutionary” new genetic testing service being launched by the NHS. Doctors will gain vital insights within as little as two days into what illnesses more than 1,000 newborns and infants a year in England have from the rapid analysis of blood tests. Until now, when doctors suspected a genetic disorder, such tests have sometimes taken weeks as they had to be done in a sequential order to rule out other possible diagnoses, delaying treatment. NHS England bosses say the service could save the lives of thousands of seriously ill children over time and will usher in “a new era of genomic medicine”. The clinical scientists, genetic technologists and bioinformaticians will carry out much faster processing of DNA samples, including saliva and other tissue samples as well as blood. They will share their findings with medical teams and patients’ families. “This global first is an incredible moment for the NHS and will be revolutionary in helping us to rapidly diagnose the illnesses of thousands of seriously ill children and babies, saving countless lives in the years to come,” said Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 October 2022 Further hub reading Genetic profiling and precision medicine – the future of cancer treatment
  21. News Article
    If doctors had tested a nine-year-old girl's blood sooner they may have changed the treatment she received before her death, an expert witness has confirmed to a medical tribunal. The hearing was told this was a "significant failure" in the care of Claire Roberts. Claire died at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in 1996. In 2018 a public inquiry concluded she died from an overdose of fluids and medication caused by negligent care. At the time, her parents were told a viral infection had spread from her stomach to her brain. The General Medical Council (GMC) said one of the doctors involved in Claire's care, Dr Heather Steen, acted dishonestly in trying to conceal the circumstances of her death. Dr Steen denied allegations that she acted dishonestly and engaged in a cover-up. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) heard from a defence expert witness on Monday who said doctors not checking the sodium levels in Claire's blood earlier was a "significant failure" in her care. Dr Nicholas Mann told the tribunal he would have ordered more blood tests on Claire on the morning after she was admitted to hospital but he said he did not know if this would have prevented her death. "There should have been more attention to her fluids and electrolytes on the day after admission. Whether that would have altered the final outcome I don't know but certainly it would have been sensible to do that," he said. The tribunal also heard that Claire's death was not referred to a coroner, despite this being something all of the doctors caring for her would have had a duty to do. It was also told that a letter sent to Claire's parents from the hospital in 2005 contained inaccuracies. During questioning of Dr Mann, a barrister for the GMC highlighted the involvement of Dr Steen in compiling the letter which was signed by another doctor. Tom Forster KC said it was the GMC's case that Claire's family were given incorrect information about potential causes of her death despite these not being definitively diagnosed. Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 October 2022
  22. Content Article
    Many clinicians and managers struggle with the concept of waste in clinical processes. After hearing and reading about the transformation of healthcare at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, the Gordon Caldwell read Toyota Culture the Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way. This article discusses some of the concepts of waste in clinical processes, concentrating particularly on the waste and costs of over-investigation.
  23. News Article
    Staff mistakes in a private laboratory may have caused 23 extra deaths from Covid-19. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) made the claim in a report into errors at the Immensa lab in Wolverhampton. It said as many as 39,000 positive results were wrongly reported as negative in September and October 2021. The mistakes led to "increased numbers of [hospital] admissions and deaths", the report, published on Tuesday, concluded. Thousands of people, many in the South West, were wrongly told to stop testing after their results were processed by Immensa. The Wolverhampton laboratory was used for additional testing capacity for NHS Test and Trace from early September 2021, but testing was suspended on 12 October following reports of inaccurate results. Experts said high case rates in some areas were down to people unwittingly infecting others when they should have been isolating. UKHSA experts said the mistakes could have led to as many as 55,000 additional infections in areas where the false negatives were reported. "Each incorrect negative test likely led to just over two additional infections," the report said. "In those same geographical areas, our results also suggest an increased number of admissions and deaths." Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 November 2022
  24. News Article
    COVID-19 patients have active and prolonged gut viral infection, even in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms, scientists in Hong Kong showed. The coronavirus may continue to infect and replicate in the digestive tract after clearing in the airways, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said in a statement Monday. The findings, published in the medical journal GUT, have implications for identifying and treating cases, they said. SARS-CoV-2 spreads mainly through respiratory droplets -- spatters of virus-laden discharge from the mouth and nose, according to the World Health Organization. Since the first weeks of the pandemic, however, scientists in China have said infectious virus in the stool of patients may also play a role in transmission. The finding “highlights the importance of long-term coronavirus and health surveillance and the threat of potential fecal-oral viral transmissions,” Siew Chien Ng, associate director of the university’s Centre for Gut Microbiota Research, said in the statement. Read full story Source: Bloomberg, 7 September 2020
  25. News Article
    Testing people twice for the coronavirus, with a nasal swab followed by an antibody finger prick test, would catch most of those people who fail to get the right COVID-19 diagnosis, researchers believe. Nose and throat swabs miss around 30% to 50% of infections, say the University of Cambridge team, as the virus can disappear from the upper respiratory tract into the lungs. But they say adding an antibody test can plug that gap. Antibodies show up from about six days after infection. A team at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge has piloted the use of combined tests for patients arriving at the hospital. Many arrive with flu-like symptoms and need an accurate diagnosis to ensure they are put on the right wards, so that there is no risk of COVID-19 patients infecting others. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 September 2020
×
×
  • Create New...