Clinical and Microbiological Impact of Implementing a Decision Support Algorithm through Microbiologic Rapid Diagnosis in Critically Ill Patients: An Epidemiological Retrospective Pre-/Post-Intervention Study.

Background: Data on the benefits of rapid microbiological testing on antimicrobial consumption (AC) and antimicrobial resistance patterns (ARPs) are scarce. We evaluated the impact of a protocol based on rapid techniques on AC and ARP in intensive care (ICU) patients.

Methods: A retrospective pre- (2018) and post-intervention (2019-2021) study was conducted in ICU patients.

Aptamer Sandwich Assay for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Antigen.

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged at the end of 2019, resulting in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The high transmissibility of the virus and the substantial number of asymptomatic individuals have led to an exponential rise in infections worldwide, urgently requiring global containment strategies. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction is the gold standard for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infections.

False-seronegative HCV infection motivated by interference with cryoglobulins.

Objectives: Cryoglobulins (CGs) are serum proteins that undergo a reverse cold-induced precipitation . The CGs are a well-known cause of analytical interferences in several laboratory tests, leading to spurious results. With this in view, we present a case of a patient initially misdiagnosed due to CGs interference in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) serology.

Use of predictive tools in the management of COVID-19 patients: a key role of clinical laboratories.

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is widely spreading and represents a critical threat to global health. In the fight against this pandemic, provincial hospitals urgently need rapid diagnostic of COVID-19 infected patients to avoid collapsing of emergency units. However, the high demand of patients with severe acute respiratory symptoms limits the fast delivery of results by the gold standard method reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction real time (rRT-PCR) for the identification of COVID-19 positive pneumonia.