Scalable solutions for global health: the SalivaDirect model.

The COVID-19 pandemic caught the world unprepared. Large-scale testing efforts were urgently needed, and diagnostic strategies had to rapidly evolve in response to unprecedented worldwide demand. However, the rollout of diagnostic testing and screening for SARS-CoV-2 was often impeded by logistical challenges, including regulatory delays, workforce shortages, laboratory bottlenecks, and supply chain disruptions.

Diagnostic testing preferences can help inform future public health response efforts: Global insights from an international survey.

Public perception regarding diagnostic sample types as well as personal experiences can influence willingness to test. As such, public preferences for specific sample type(s) should be used to inform diagnostic and surveillance testing programs to improve public health response efforts. To understand where preferences lie, we conducted an international survey regarding the sample types used for SARS-CoV-2 tests.

Saliva as a sample type for SARS-CoV-2 detection: implementation successes and opportunities around the globe.

Introduction: Symptomatic testing and asymptomatic screening for SARS-CoV-2 continue to be essential tools for mitigating virus transmission. Though COVID-19 diagnostics initially defaulted to oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal sampling, the worldwide urgency to expand testing efforts spurred innovative approaches and increased diversity of detection methods. Strengthening innovation and facilitating widespread testing remains critical for global health, especially as additional variants emerge and other mitigation strategies are recalibrated.

The occurrence of Naegleria fowleri in recreational waters in Arizona.

Naegleria fowleri is a free-living amoeba found in waters in warmer regions that causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare but almost universally fatal disease. The goal of this project was to assess the occurrence of N. fowleri and other thermophilic amoebae in 33 recreational surface waters across Arizona to determine if their presence could be correlated with seasonal or other environmental factors.