Interactions between live attenuated influenza vaccine and nasopharyngeal microbiota among children aged 24-59 months in The Gambia: a phase 4, open-label, randomised controlled trial.

Background: Live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs) alter nasopharyngeal microbiota in adults. It is poorly understood why LAIV immunogenicity varies across populations, but it could be linked to the microbiome. We aimed to investigate the interactions between intranasal immunisation with LAIV and nasopharyngeal microbiota composition in children from The Gambia.

High quality of SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostics in a diverse laboratory landscape through supported benchmark testing and External Quality Assessment.

A two-step strategy combining assisted benchmark testing (entry controls) and External Quality Assessments (EQAs) with blinded simulated clinical specimens to enhance and maintain the quality of nucleic acid amplification testing was developed. This strategy was successfully applied to 71 diagnostic laboratories in The Netherlands when upscaling the national diagnostic capacity during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The availability of benchmark testing in combination with advice for improvement substantially enhanced the quality of the laboratory testing procedures for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Multi-center evaluation of Cepheid Xpert® Xpress SARS-CoV-2/Flu/RSV molecular point-of-care test.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is taking a huge toll on society while influenza and RSV detection are also becoming more important. These viruses pose a high burden on health care. Rapid and accurate diagnostics for these pathogens are important for swift triage in the hospital.

Self-testing for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection with rapid antigen tests for people with suspected COVID-19 in the community.

Objectives: To evaluate the performance of nasal mid-turbinate self-testing using rapid antigen detection tests (RDT) for persons with suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the community. Self-testing for COVID-19 infection with lateral flow assay severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RDT, provides rapid results and could enable frequent and extensive testing in the community, thereby improving the control of SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: Participants visiting a municipal SARS-CoV-2 testing centre, received self-testing kits containing either the BD Veritor System (BD-RDT) or Roche SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection test (Roche-RDT).

Performance of the Diasorin SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection assay on the LIAISON XL.

Background: The current reference standard to diagnose a SARS-CoV-2 infection is real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This test poses substantial challenges for large-scale community testing, especially with respect to the long turnaround times. SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests are an alternative, but typically use a lateral flow assay format rendering them less suitable for analysis of large numbers of samples.

Multi-center evaluation of cepheid xpert® xpress SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care test during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Background: With the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, rapid diagnostics are paramount to contain the current pandemic. The routinely used realtime RT-PCR is sensitive, specific and able to process large batches of samples. However, turnaround time is long and in cases where fast obtained results are critical, molecular point of care tests (POCT) can be an alternative.

Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR.

Background: The ongoing outbreak of the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) poses a challenge for public health laboratories as virus isolates are unavailable while there is growing evidence that the outbreak is more widespread than initially thought, and international spread through travellers does already occur.

Aim: We aimed to develop and deploy robust diagnostic methodology for use in public health laboratory settings without having virus material available.

Methods: Here we present a validated diagnostic workflow for 2019-nCoV, its design relying on close genetic relatedness of 2019-nCoV with SARS coronavirus, making use of synthetic nucleic acid technology.