In the latest issue of the Pathologist, Dr. Jack Regan discusses the strategic priorities and technologies that could prevent the next global pandemic: Our inability to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has largely been due to the lack of sufficient surveillance and diagnostic infrastructure – including better point-of-care testing. Arguably, our failure to adequately prepare…
Contamination control of bioprocessing cell lines is essential. The same environments that encourage desirable microbiological growth also encourage growth of undesirable contaminants including yeasts, molds, mycoplasma, bacteria, and viruses.
Diagnostic testing is an important tool that veterinarians use to understand the cause and seriousness of a disease. Traditionally, this involved a trade-off between speed or accuracy, but improvements in qPCR testing are bringing point-of-care molecular diagnostics into practical use.
Making qPCR molecular diagnostics accessible at point-of-care changed how we detect and treat major infectious diseases.
Careful evaluation of a patient’s medical history, their clinical symptoms, and consultation of available diagnostic test results are essential components of implementing an effective antimicrobial stewardship program at a veterinary clinic.
On-site qPCR testing lets veterinarians make better treatment decisions, faster, than waiting on culture and sensitivity testing from a reference lab.
Veterinary Antimicrobial Stewardship (AS) programs are critical to not only improve patient outcomes, but support global action against antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Pandemic containment in the United States is ineffective due to a lack of preparation and deployment of modern pathogen-detection technologies. Improved point-of-care molecular diagnostics will save lives when the next pandemic emerges.
Overuse of antimicrobial agents in veterinary medicine contributes to the spread of resistance genes which undermine our ability to prevent or treat infectious disease.
Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens cause one in five infections in OECD and EU28 nations and could kill up to 10 million people per year by 2050. What drives antimicrobial resistance and what impacts can we expect?
qPCR is used to quickly identify pathogens and antimicrobial resistance markers in a small sample and is indispensable for modern point-of-care molecular diagnostics. Here’s a quick primer on how qPCR works, how samples are processed, and how to read results.
