A new lab test for enterovirus D68 is expected to speed up testing and confirmation of cases, according to a press release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new test is a “real-time” reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and can identify all strains of EV-D68. The previous test could be used to detect almost any enterovirus, but was labor intensive to perform and not conducive to large-scale testing.
Dr. Anne Schuchat
Of the 1,200 samples from 45 states sent to the CDC for EV-D68 testing between Aug. 1 to Oct. 10, less than 200 have been tested and about half have tested positive. The CDC now expects to be able to test around 180 samples a day and complete in 7-10 days the testing on samples received since mid-September, The new method will “reduce what would normally take several weeks to get results to a few days,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in the press release.
As with other enteroviruses, the CDC expects new cases of EV-D68 will decrease in the fall, but faster testing will more accurately show trends of the disease and will help to monitor changes in the outbreak as it winds down, according to the CDC press release.