Study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine

Apr. 20, 2020

Source: RI-MUHC. Members of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) co-authored a review of diagnostic tests for COVID-19 published this month in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Drs. Jesse Papenburg, Caroline Quach, Michael Libman and Cedric Yansouni, all researchers in the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program at the RI-MUHC, are among the authors of the review, which illustrates the need for preparedness and long-term investments in diagnostic testing. Lead author Dr. Matthew P. Cheng is their colleague in the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity and at the McGill University Health Centre.

Their key findings were:

• The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the essential role of diagnostics in the control of communicable diseases.
• Laboratory-based molecular assays for detecting SARS–CoV-2 in respiratory specimens are the current reference standard for COVID-19 diagnosis, but point-of-care technologies and serologic immunoassays are rapidly emerging.
• Early, massive deployment of SARS–CoV-2 diagnostics for case finding helped curb the epidemic in several countries.
• Urgent clinical and public health needs now drive an unprecedented global effort to increase testing capacity.

About the study
The study, “Diagnostic Testing for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–Related Coronavirus-2: A Narrative Review, by Matthew P. Cheng, MDCM, Jesse Papenburg, MD, M.Sc., Michaël Desjardins, MD, Sanjat Kanjilal, MD, MPH, Caroline Quach, MD, M.Sc., Michael Libman, MD, Sabine Dittrich, PhD, and Cedric P. Yansouni, MD, was published on annals.org on April 13, 2020.