Hepatitis A cases in the United States almost tripled from 2016-2018 when compared with 2013-2015.  According to the CDC, the increase was not uniform throughout the country. 

Prior to the introduction of Hepatitis A vaccine in 1995, it was common to see incidence rates of 30,000 cases/year. Now...

Approximately 14 months ago, I published a piece “Drones Could Impact Laboratory Testing Sooner Than You Think”. In the fall of 2017, US Department of Transportation announced an Unmanned Aircraft System pilot program to explore expansion of drone usage in the private sector. WakeMed Health and...

Treponema pallidum is the causative agent of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that, as previously discussed, has been showing increasing activity in the United States. Traditionally, screening for syphilis involved testing using a nontreponemal assay with positive cases confirmed by use of...

Over the past two years, there have been multiple papers and articles published pertaining to the increasing rates of syphilis in the United States. Recently I read an article “Syphilis Invades Rural America” by Lauren Weber, which led me to do a review of the subject. The referenced article speaks...

Candida auris fungus is frequently a multidrug-resistant organism that causes serious, often deadly infections. I first became aware of it about a year ago and published information on the website labtestingmatters.org. C. auris was originally identified in Japan in 2009 and subsequently became...

As part of a precision medicine partnership between U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and Sanford Health, Sioux Falls, S.D., 250,000 U.S. veterans who are current VA Health Care System patients will receive no cost pharmacogenetic testing evaluating actionable genetic traits. 

A recent article in Daily News from Science published by American Association for the Advancement of Science asks the question “Can cat poop cause mental illness?” 

It is estimated that approximately 11% of the US population 6 years and older have been infected with Toxoplasma gondii. Worldwide, in...

While still prevalent in 48 states, the influenza season has appeared to have peaked. However, the report from CDC last week indicated that of the influenza detected, 60% was type H3N2. This type influenza causes more hospitalizations and deaths, especially in the elderly. As you can see from the...

With our ever expanding genetic knowledge and the increasing number of molecular tests available, coupled with the decreasing cost to obtain results, it is not surprising to see genetic tests offered in primary care practices. Last year saw expansion of genetic test availability in several health...

On February 1, 2019, CMS and CDC published proposed rules to update the CLIA Proficiency Testing Regulations.  The PT Regulations had not been updated since first enacted in 1992.