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COVID-19: Diagnosis and Treatment
The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) has presented major challenges for clinical laboratories, from initial diagnosis to patient monitoring and treatment. Initial response to this pandemic involved the development, production, and distribution of diagnostic molecular assays at an unprecedented rate, leading to minimal validation requirements and concerns regarding their diagnostic accuracy in clinical settings. In addition to molecular testing, serological assays to detect antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are now becoming available from numerous diagnostic manufacturers. In both cases, the lack of peer-reviewed data and regulatory oversight, combined with general misconceptions regarding their appropriate use, have highlighted the importance of laboratory professionals in robustly validating and evaluating these assays for appropriate clinical use.
Clinical laboratory finding in COVID-19: Diagnosis and prognosis
Coronaviruses belong to a family of viruses that comes under the order “Nidovirales”. This order includes the viruses that use a nested set of mRNAs for their replication. Further, the coronavirus sub-family has four genera (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta coronaviruses). The coronaviruses infecting humans (HCoVs) belong to two of these genera (alpha coronaviruses and beta coronaviruses).
