Want to see what strain COVID you have? The government says no


September 14, 2021 – Every day, more than 140,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with COVID-19. But no matter how curious they are with which option they are struggling with, none of them will know.

The country is littered with laboratories sequencing the genomes of COVID-19 cases, and the CDC is tracking those results. But federal regulations say these results cannot be returned to patients or doctors.

According to experts in public health and infectious diseases, this is unlikely to change any time soon.

“I know people want to know – I’ve had many friends or family who have asked me how they can find out,” said Dr. Aubrey Gordon, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “I think it’s interesting to understand, for sure. And it would certainly be nice to know. But since it is probably not necessary, there is little motivation to change the rules. “

As the tests used are not approved as diagnostic tools under the program for changes in clinical laboratory improvements, which is monitored by the Centers for Medical and Medical Services, they can only be used for research purposes.

In fact, sequencing scientists rarely have information about patients, Gordon said. For example, the Lauring Lab at the University of Michigan – led by Dr. Adam Lauring – is focusing on viral evolution and is currently testing variants. But this is not done for the sake of the patient or the doctors treating the patient.

“The samples are coming … and they’ve been identified,” Gordon said. “It’s for research purposes only. Not much patient information is shared with researchers. “

But for now, apart from pure curiosity, there is no reason to change that, says Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Medicine.

Although there are emerging variants – including the new Mu variant, also known as B.1.621 and recently classified as a “variant of interest” – the Delta variant accounts for about 99% of cases in the United States.

In addition, Brewer says, treatment is the same for all patients with COVID-19, regardless of the option.

“There has to be some clinical significance for there to be a good reason to give this information,” he said. “This would mean that we would do something different in terms of treatment depending on the option. This is not the case so far. “

There is a loophole that allows laboratories to release information on options: They can develop their own tests. But then they have to go through a long validation process that proves their tests are as effective as the gold standard, said Dr. Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada Public Health Laboratory.

But even with validation, it’s too time-consuming and expensive to sort out a large number of cases, he says.

“The reason we don’t do it routinely is because there’s no way to do a genomic analysis of all the positives,” Pandora said. “That’s about $ 110 to make a sequence. This is not like a standard PCR test. “

There is a hypothetical situation that could justify the publication of these results, says Brewer: if an option emerges that avoids vaccines.

“That would be a real public health problem,” he said. “You want to make sure that there are no options out there that evade immunity.”

WebMD Health News

Sources

World Health Organization.

Aubrey Gordon, Ph.D., epidemiologist, University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Timothy Brewer, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Medicine.

Dr. Mark Pandori, Director, Nevada State Public Health Laboratory.


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