Two lineages (BA.1 and BA.2) of the Omicron variant are the main ones responsible for the recent COVID-19 pandemic waves worldwide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the advance of vaccination worldwide, epidemic waves caused by more transmissible and immune evasive genetic variants of SARS-CoV-2 have sustained the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. Monitoring such variants is expensive, as it usually relies on whole-genome sequencing methods. Therefore, it is necessary to develop alternatives that could help identify samples from specific variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnal Methods
July 2021
SARS-CoV-2 currently represents a serious global public health problem. Non-pharmaceutical intervention measures (NPIs) have been widely adopted, and the testing strategy since the beginning of the infection is the most effective tool for tracking, isolating, and minimizing transmission. The high operating costs and the need for sophisticated instrumentation related to gold standard diagnostic for COVID-19, Reverse Transcription quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), have highlighted the urgency and importance of developing and applying new diagnostic techniques, especially in places with scarce resources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfection caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has become a serious worldwide public health problem, and one of the most important strategies for its control is mass testing. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has emerged as an important alternative to simplify the diagnostics of infectious diseases. In addition, an advantage of LAMP is that it allows for easy reading of the final result through visual detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZika virus (ZIKV) is a current threat to global health. In most of cases, ZIKV infection has no symptoms; however in some cases, ZIKV can cause paralysis (Guillain-Barré syndrome), and in pregnant women, it can cause birth defects in infants. Rapid and accurate diagnosis can help improve disease control as well as being vital to prenatal care for women living in endemic areas.
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