Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

10 INFECTION CONTROL Testing supply shortages may cause jump in STIs, experts warn By Erica Carbajal W ith so many testing supplies dedi- cated to COVID-19, U.S. labs are now facing a shortage of supplies needed to test for sexually transmitted infections and other common diseases like strep throat and pneumonia, NBC News reported Dec. 5. Public health experts said inadequate testing could lead to skyrocketing infection rates, since many undiagnosed people may un- knowingly spread STIs. UNC Medical Center's clinical microbiology lab in Chapel Hill, N.C., was unable to pro- cess chlamydia and gonorrhea tests since the needed reagents were on back order for three weeks, the lab's director Melissa Miller, PhD, told NBC in December. "It's hard for our providers to keep track of what we're able to do on any given day," said Dr. Miller. "Providers used to be able to ask for every kind of test in our lab and now they can't. It's affecting their ability to practice medicine quite honestly." The American Society of Microbiology surveyed 131 clinical labs nationwide the week of Nov. 20 and found 70 percent reported a shortage of supplies needed for STI tests. About 39 percent of respondents said they were short on supplies needed for routine bacteria tests that identify strep throat, pneumonia, bronchitis and urinary tract infections. In September, the CDC advised physicians in areas facing supply shortages to ration chlamydia and gonorrhea tests to those at high risk. Planned Parenthood physicians told NBC that some of their clinics are now making STI diagnoses empirically. "I've never been able to not order a test," said Krishna Upadhya, MD, vice president of quality care and health equity at Planned Parenthood. "It's very difficult as a healthcare provider to not have the tool you need to take the best care of your patients." n Biogen conference linked to 330K COVID-19 cases globally By Mackenzie Bean A Biogen conference held in Boston in February has been linked to about 330,00 COVID-19 cas- es globally, according to a study published Dec. 10 in Science. Nearly two dozen academic and medical organizations — including Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston — collaborated on the study. Researchers performed a genetic analysis of virus samples from 772 individuals in the Boston area collected during the first COVID-19 surge this winter and spring. Their findings suggest the biotech conference — which generated 100 confirmed cases among attendees — evolved into a global superspreader event reaching 29 states, along with countries like Sweden and Australia, according to the Boston Herald. After reviewing state-reported COVID-19 case counts, researchers estimated that 50,000 cases in the U.S. were linked to the conference by April, 46 percent of which were in Massachusetts. Through Nov. 1, research- ers identified about 245,000 cases caused by one virus strain and 88,000 caused by another that were linked to the conference sponsored by the Cambridge, Mass.- based biotech company. n COVID-19 immunity can last up to 8 months, studies suggest By Mackenzie Bean C OVID-19 patients may maintain immunity to the virus for up to eight months after initial infection, according to two studies published Dec. 22. For the first study, published in Science Immunology, Australian researchers took repeat blood samples from 25 COVID-19 patients from day four to day 242 after infection. Every patient had memory B cells up to eight months after infection, which are immune cells that trig- ger antibody production if re-exposed to the virus. "These results are important because they show, defini- tively, that patients infected with the COVID-19 virus do in fact retain immunity against the virus and the disease," senior author Menno van Zelm, PhD, a researcher at Monash University's department of immunology and pathology in Melbourne, said in a news release. The second study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, assessed antibody responses in 58 COVID-19 patients in South Korea who had asymptomatic or mild cases between March 5 and April 9. Researchers mea- sured antibody levels using four commercial immunoas- says. Results from three immunoassays showed antibody levels were still high eight months after infection. "Rates differed according to immunoassay methods or manufacturers, thereby explaining differences in rates [from past studies]," the researchers said, which suggest- ed antibody levels waned after two to three months. n

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