0000000000583768
AUTHOR
Diego Carretero
BD MAX Enteric Bacterial, Bacterial Plus, and Virus Panels for Diagnosis of Acute Infectious Gastroenteritis: a Cost-Benefit Analysis
Economic assessment is required to gauge the value of implementing PCR syndromic platforms in the microbiology laboratory for the diagnosis of community-acquired acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in pediatric and adult in- and outpatients. A cost-benefit analysis was conducted from a health care system perspective using BD MAX Enteric Bacterial, Bacterial Plus, and Virus panels. Two 6-month periods were selected, in which either conventional procedures (in 2017) or BD MAX PCR multiplex panels (in 2018) were used. We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all patients with positive results and a representative sample of negative ones. A Markov model was used to represent transition probabilit…
Initial viral load and decay kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 in the upper respiratory tract of adults and children
We read with interest the systematic review published by Walsh et al. in the Journal of Infection,1 focusing on the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 RNA at the upper respiratory tract (URT). In this context, a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant lineage (B.1.1.7), first detected in the UK at the end of 2020 has transmission advantage over other lineages.2 Increased transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 variant has been linked to enhanced ACE2 affinity3 allegedly resulting in higher viral loads in URT, an observation that has been reported in some,3, 4, 5, 6 but not all7 large series published to date. In addition, longer duration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding in URT has been reported in individuals infected by the B.1.1…