Heidi Albert
I work at FIND, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, based in Cape Town, South Africa. I support the uptake and appropriate use of diagnostics to achieve impact.
Location Cape Town, South Africa
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Heidi Albert made a comment
You can find a transcript in the Downloads section if you'd like to follow along or recap on the details of the presentation.
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Thanks for the comment. You can also find a transcript in the Downloads section.
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RT-PCR is the gold standard method. There were several initial PCR protocols that were developed by global referral labs which were published on WHO's website. One of the first commercialized kits adapted from the Berlin protocol was Tib Molbiol. In the absence of an international reference standard which can more accurately and objectively compare test...
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Hello. As you have learned, immunoassays are not currently recommended for diagnosis of COVID infection. In future we hope to have tests with suitable performance that may be deployed for this purpose. Glad to hear the information was helpful.
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Hello Sheilla. It's encouraging to hear that the TB/HIV sample referral system is being leveraged for COVID testing
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Barnabas, thanks for sharing your experience of integrating transport of samples for COVID testing with the system in place for other diseases. TB programme should already be familiar with triple packaging requirements.
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thanks for sharing your experience, Kazeem
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Great to hear this, Moses. Do you envisage any challenges as testing is scaled up/decentralized?
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thanks for sharing your experience. Just to let other learners know that Xpert is referred to as CBNAAT in India (cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification technology)
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Sabin, thanks for the comment. How are you estimating available capacity for COVID testing on GeneXpert instruments while ensuring adequate testing can still be done for TB? Are you seeing a reduction in TB testing in your country due to COVID?
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Due to practical constraints some countries are resorting to verification or validation at a national or regional level, although this does not adhere to the ISO standard requirements.
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Agree, this is a practical solution to the current challenges. Community labs should also track and analyse key performance indicators as a way of ensuring quality.
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Thanks for the comment, Joy. Collecting and analyzing key performance indicators is important in tracking quality of routine testing results, and does not require external resources, yet, in my opinion, is one of the most important elements of a good QA system.
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Thanks for the great comment. Protecting health and safety of staff is critical and also reflects on quality of test results.
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Even in the absence of EQA, labs should track key performance indicators such as number of tests, positivity rate, % invalid results, turnaround time, and rapidly follow up to understand the root cause if indicators are outside expected range and put in place corrective actions.
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Thanks for your comment, Dr. Indranath. Fully agree that the WHO reference lab re-testing is very valuable and as you say that QMS can not be started in a short time. There are a number of elements that are really valuable in monitoring routine quality of testing: having SOPs/job aids and training all staff, tracking testing stats, incl. number tested,...
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Hello Clever. Evaluation of tests is critical as you say. FIND, together with WHO and partners, is coordinating independent evaluations, and compiling data from other institutions. You can find the latest information here: https://www.finddx.org/covid-19/dx-data/
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Heidi Albert replied to Don Mangowa
Hi Don and Manasa, Please scroll to the top of the comments section to see my post on gold standard test
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Heidi Albert replied to Carlos Santander
Hi Carlos. Please see a reply I pinned to the top of this comments section.
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Heidi Albert replied to Denis Tebit
Hello Denis. We will talk more on immunoassays in Week 3.
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Heidi Albert made a comment
Quite a few people have been asking what is the gold standard test for COVID-19.
RT-PCR is the gold standard method. There were several initial PCR protocols that were developed by global referral labs which were published on WHO's website. One of the first commercialized kits adapted from the Berlin protocol was Tib Molbiol. In the absence of an...
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Heidi Albert replied to Maz Zawahir
Quite a few people have been asking about gold standard testing for COVID-19.
RT-PCR is the gold standard method. There were several initial PCR protocols that were developed by global referral labs which were published on WHO's website. One of the first commercialized kits adapted from the Berlin protocol was Tib Molbiol. In the absence of an international...
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The impact of COVID on TB programmes is cause for concern. Stop TB parternship reported results of an assessment: http://www.stoptb.org/news/stories/2020/ns20_014.html
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Thanks for the great comment, Imtiaz. Sample referral networks that have established for HIV or TB should be integrated to enable transport of any samples , and is especially critical to respond quickly to outbreak situations
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Hello Joy, more to come in Week 3 on serological testing
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Eze, thanks for the comment. Nigeria is in line with the current WHO recommendations on use of PCR. However with only limited number of labs able to do the testing it becomes very challenging to scale up sufficiently to meet the need.
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Heidi Albert replied to Azubike Nonyelum
See this Youtube video which explains in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqgJHryKOSU
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Heidi Albert replied to Michael Agyei
Hi Michael, we will cover this important topic in Week 2 of the course.
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Heidi Albert replied to Daniel Momanyi
Daniel, thanks for your comment. Raising the profile and understanding of the importance of diagnostics in the overall health system is critical, and not only for COVID-19.
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Heidi Albert replied to Layla W
Good question. Accuracy is the % test results that agree with the gold standard, and includes both positive and negative results combined, while sensitivity is the % test positives relative to true positives, and specificity is % test negative compared with true negatives.
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Heidi Albert replied to Victor Awino
Limited data are currently available on performance of COVID-19 tests. FIND, together with WHO and partners, is conducting independent evaluations of molecular tests and immunoassays and collating data from other studies and making it openly accessible. See https://www.finddx.org/covid-19/
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Thanks for sharing experience from Nigeria on engaging the private sector
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Heidi Albert replied to Iain McCulloch
thanks! we have fixed the link
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Thank you! We have fixed the broken link
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Heidi Albert replied to Bernard Crocker
Absolutely. We'll discuss these points more in future steps - stay tuned!
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Heidi Albert replied to Victor Awino
Thanks for the interesting question. There are many reasons for false positive results, and they can occur in asymptomatic patients. Common reasons for false results include mislabeling of specimens and clerical errors which can occur even in the best of laboratories. Following strict protocols for all steps in the diagnostic process from sample collection...
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Heidi Albert made a comment
Hello everyone, and greetings from Cape Town, South Africa. I'm part of the team at FIND that has developed this course, and I'm excited to meet you all and read your motivations for participating. Looking forward to hear ideas and insights from your countries and to learning together over the next 3 weeks!
