Cargando…

The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward

The dramatic increase in suspected COVID-19 cases in Africa has placed an enormous burden on public and private clinical facilities. To date, the most commonly used method for identifying and confirming the virus is the laboratory-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test....

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Seidu, Abdul-Aziz, Hagan, John Elvis, Ameyaw, Edward Kwabena, Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku, Schack, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7326437/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32619756
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.089
_version_ 1783552342527836160
author Seidu, Abdul-Aziz
Hagan, John Elvis
Ameyaw, Edward Kwabena
Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku
Schack, Thomas
author_facet Seidu, Abdul-Aziz
Hagan, John Elvis
Ameyaw, Edward Kwabena
Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku
Schack, Thomas
author_sort Seidu, Abdul-Aziz
collection PubMed
description The dramatic increase in suspected COVID-19 cases in Africa has placed an enormous burden on public and private clinical facilities. To date, the most commonly used method for identifying and confirming the virus is the laboratory-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Unfortunately, testing capacities have been limited in many parts of Africa because of inadequate test kits, which have restricted scaling up beyond the few public health laboratories at designated locations. In this mini-review, we present Africa's preparedness and readiness for testing, why testing is crucial, the need to immediately strengthen existing facilities, and what it involves as part of combined approaches for managing the COVID-19 crisis. The review highlights the urgent need for speedy expansion and distribution of several laboratory testing platforms, including real-time PCR and serological assays to both public health facilities and fully accredited private clinical laboratories.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7326437
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-73264372020-07-01 The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward Seidu, Abdul-Aziz Hagan, John Elvis Ameyaw, Edward Kwabena Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku Schack, Thomas Int J Infect Dis Perspective The dramatic increase in suspected COVID-19 cases in Africa has placed an enormous burden on public and private clinical facilities. To date, the most commonly used method for identifying and confirming the virus is the laboratory-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Unfortunately, testing capacities have been limited in many parts of Africa because of inadequate test kits, which have restricted scaling up beyond the few public health laboratories at designated locations. In this mini-review, we present Africa's preparedness and readiness for testing, why testing is crucial, the need to immediately strengthen existing facilities, and what it involves as part of combined approaches for managing the COVID-19 crisis. The review highlights the urgent need for speedy expansion and distribution of several laboratory testing platforms, including real-time PCR and serological assays to both public health facilities and fully accredited private clinical laboratories. The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. 2020-09 2020-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7326437/ /pubmed/32619756 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.089 Text en © 2020 The Author(s) Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Perspective
Seidu, Abdul-Aziz
Hagan, John Elvis
Ameyaw, Edward Kwabena
Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku
Schack, Thomas
The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward
title The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward
title_full The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward
title_fullStr The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward
title_full_unstemmed The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward
title_short The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward
title_sort role of testing in the fight against covid-19: current happenings in africa and the way forward
topic Perspective
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7326437/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32619756
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.089
work_keys_str_mv AT seiduabdulaziz theroleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT haganjohnelvis theroleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT ameyawedwardkwabena theroleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT ahinkorahbrightopoku theroleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT schackthomas theroleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT seiduabdulaziz roleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT haganjohnelvis roleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT ameyawedwardkwabena roleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT ahinkorahbrightopoku roleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward
AT schackthomas roleoftestinginthefightagainstcovid19currenthappeningsinafricaandthewayforward