Breakthrough Throat & Nasal Swabs to fight COVID-19 pandemics

First of its kind, QiDix makes sampling easier

Scientists from around the world are using nose swabs to track the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Here's how it works.

Assam has tightened the protocol for screening its citizens returning from outside the region following which every individual, symptomatic or asymptomatic and irrespective of the colour status of their originating location will be tested for Covid-19 and kept in institutional quarantine until the result of the test is obtained.

SWABI: The police here on Saturday said that a five-year-old girl, whose body was recently recovered from a water channel, was killed by her aunt. Speaking at a news conference here, DPO Imran Shahid said that investigation revealed that Wajeeha Khan’s aunt was involved in her killing. The...

Even before they check in to the hotel, every fighter, coach, cameraman, journalist and UFC employee arriving in Jacksonville, Florida, is immediately directed to a screening station.

Counsel for Respondent Shri Sachin K. Verma,Adv. Nos. 1, 3, 4 & 8: Shri D.S.Kanesh, DFO Counsel for Respondent No. 2: Shri Rajendra Babbar, Adv. Counsel for Respondent No. 5: Shri Naman Nagrath, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Qasim Ali, Adv. Counsel for Respondent No. 6 & 7: Shri Om Shankar Shrivastav, Adv. & Shri Dharamvir Sharma, Adv. Dated : October 1st, 2014 J U D GEM E N T

1. This Application was originally filed as Writ Petition No. 6930/2009 in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur as Public Interest Litigation. In pursuance of the order dated 05.12.2013 of the Hon'ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh in consonance with the judgement dated 9th August, 2012 of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan and Others Vs. Union of India & Others (2012) 8 SCC 326, the Writ Petition was transferred to the Central Zone Bench, National Green Tribunal, Bhopal and was registered as Original Application No.114/2013. The matter was listed for hearing on 13-1- 2014 since the Hon'ble High Court, while ordering the transfer of the case, directed that the parties shall appear before this Tribunal on 13-1-2014.

Watch a keeper train the Zoo’s clouded leopard, Tai, for voluntary cheek swabs. The DNA from these cheek swabs is used to map the genealogy […]

The post Training a CLouded Leopard for Cheek Swabs appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In conversation with ETCIO, Biswabrata Chakravorty, CIO, IndusInd bank shares how innovative and cutting-edge modes of banking such as video, gesture, and Whatsapp are all adding to customer experience.

A bed-side system for preventing infection that uses a flush and swab caddy attached to an IV pole or other bed-side equipment. By providing convenient and secure storage for pre-filled syringes, alcohol swabs, and other medical supplies, it can improve individual patient care. In an embodiment, the caddy attaches to the IV pole and comprises a locking compartment for pre-filled syringes and an open tray for alcohol swabs and other medical supplies. The syringes may be filled with saline, heparin, or another solution.

(New Jersey Institute of Technology) A team of NJIT physicists has developed a novel test swab that can be 3D printed using inexpensive, widely available materials and speedily assembled in a range of fabrication settings. To augment the nation's testing capabilities, the inventors are making the swab's design publicly available, free of licensing fees, during the COVID-19 emergency.

There is evidence that Kingella kingae, the major bacterial cause of osteoarticular infection in children <4 years of age, first colonizes the oropharynx before penetrating the bloodstream and invading distant organs. Diagnosis remains challenging because clinical findings at admission may be normal.

Our study demonstrated for the first time that a simple technique of detecting of K kingae DNA in the oropharynx can provide strong evidence that this microorganism is responsible for the OAI, or even stronger evidence that it is not. (Read the full article)

Have you wondered what it's like to get tested for COVID-19 in Japan? With little Japanese, Joe Oliver learned the hard way after being sent ...

In a back room of Singaporean dentist Teehee Dental Works, three orange-topped boxes hum with a sterile buzz.Over the next three hours, a thousand strands of liquid resin will form and harden to become plastic nasal swabs, ready to be used in Covid-19 test kits. Those 3D printers – normally making dentures and crowns – are a part of a local effort to re-tool some of Singapore’s industries to respond to a growing need for test kits amid the widening coronavirus pandemic.With one of Asia’s…

The QIAstat-Dx Respiratory Panel (QIAstat-Dx RP) is a multiplex in vitro diagnostic test for the qualitative detection of 20 pathogens directly from nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) specimens. The assay is performed using a simple sample-to-answer platform with results available in approximately 69 min. The pathogens identified are adenovirus, coronavirus 229E, coronavirus HKU1, coronavirus NL63, coronavirus OC43, human metapneumovirus A and B, influenza A, influenza A H1, influenza A H3, influenza A H1N1/2009, influenza B, parainfluenza virus 1, parainfluenza virus 2, parainfluenza virus 3, parainfluenza virus 4, rhinovirus/enterovirus, respiratory syncytial virus A and B, Bordetella pertussis, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. This multicenter evaluation provides data obtained from 1,994 prospectively collected and 310 retrospectively collected (archived) NPS specimens with performance compared to that of the BioFire FilmArray Respiratory Panel, version 1.7. The overall percent agreement between QIAstat-Dx RP and the comparator testing was 99.5%. In the prospective cohort, the QIAstat-Dx RP demonstrated a positive percent agreement of 94.0% or greater for the detection of all but four analytes: coronaviruses 229E, NL63, and OC43 and rhinovirus/enterovirus. The test also demonstrated a negative percent agreement of ≥97.9% for all analytes. The QIAstat-Dx RP is a robust and accurate assay for rapid, comprehensive testing for respiratory pathogens.

Passengers may have to collect sealed "grab and go" meal bags before they board planes to reduce their contact with cabin crew on flights under a range of options for the post lockdown era being considered by aviation bosses.

A doctor working at a hospital for treatment of coronavirus patients here in Maharashtra has revealed the tough task and challenges they face in collecting swab samples of the suspected patients. The process of swab sample collection of a person does not take more than 30 to 40 seconds, but it is a "high-risk job", Dr Pushkar Dahiwal, who collects 80 to 100 swab samples in a day at the government hospital in Aurangabad, told PTI.

"We work for three days and then remain self- quarantined for 14 days," he informed. During the six-hour duty, doctors have to keep wearing the personal protective equipment (PPE) and amidst the fast-paced work, they do not even get a chance to drink water, he said. "We need to finish the work in a short time to avoid contact with patients and also with those who come to give their swab samples," the doctor said. A 10 to 12 cm long stick is used to collect a sample from a person's throat, while the stick used for collecting a sample from the nose is comparatively longer and thinner, he said.

"Before the person coughs or sneezes, we need to finish the sample collection. Being a dentist, I have the practice of handling the patient's mouth area," he said. Dahiwal also said that at times they need to counsel coronavirus suspects as some of them think they don't have the infection but carry fear in mind. "Some of the people think the test is something different and dangerous. But, we explain the procedure to them so that there should be no need to collect another sample of the person," Dahiwal said.

The nurse and other accompanying staff also need to stay alert as the swab samples are to be sealed immediately and kept in a proper storage facility, he said. "If the swab sample falls, it would be a problem. All these things have to be completed in a very short span of time. So, there is no scope for mistake," he added. Dahiwal also recalled that he took care of victims of the 26/11 terror attack in 2008 at the Saint George Hospital in Mumbai. "I left the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai just 20 minutes before the attack began. At that time, we had feared the attackers may come from any side. That incident keeps coming to my mind every time when I collect swab samples of suspected coronavirus patients," he said.

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In efforts to provide assistance to the medical fraternity in fighting the battle against the deadly Coronavirus pandemic, Western Railway has come up with various ingenious equipment, including high-quality PPEs, steel beds for patients, isolation coaches, reusable masks, sanitizers, etc.

Continuing with their efforts, Western Railway's Lower Parel Workshop has now manufactured a booth to collect the swab sample of COVID-19 infected patients. This booth enables doctors and medicos to take the sample/swab without exposing themselves to the affected patient.

According to Ravinder Bhakar - Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, a request to make a kiosk with the concept of distance sample collection had come from Western Railway's Jagjivan Ram Hospital, which is a nominated 172-bed Coronavirus hospital. The work was done on war footing mode right from arranging the material, fabrication, and furnishing and was completed within 6 hours. The design has been developed by two teams of workshop engineers (Carriage Repair and Basic Training Centre), who manufactured this booth with the available material in the workshop.

The booth is very sturdy and robust & completely sealed from the front three sides, to ensure that the frontline medical staff is totally isolated from the patient. The structure of the booth consists of a strong fabricated structure of MS square tubes, covered externally with plywood on all sides, and a rear door. The upper half portion of the front side has been covered with a 6 mm transparent acrylic sheet. All material used for repair of coaches has been used in this fabrication. The front side transparent acrylic sheet has been provided with two holes on which rubber hand gloves have been permanently fitted. The team worked against the clock to make the Sample Collection Booth as fast as they can and on April 28, 2020, the newly manufactured booth has been delivered to Jagjivan Ram Hospital at Mumbai Central.

Although it is a coach repair workshop, in this time of crisis, it has contributed in making many other materials helpful for our frontline warriors, working day in and out in hospitals beside our employees. The manufacturer team was led by Shri Arun Kumar Singh - Dy. Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Workshop, and consisted of his technical experts Shri Prashant Deshmukh, Shri Satish Samrut, Shri Arvind Javadia, Shri Sanjai Bhavsar, Shri Manoj Yadav, Shri Mahesh Bhatia, Shri Pradeep Tamboli, Shri Natrajan and along with 10 other members in the team contributed in this effort.

Western Railway salutes the commitment and dedication of its employees who are constantly working to fight this ongoing battle with the deadly Coronavirus Pandemic despite putting their lives at risk.

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The Bachelor's Noni Janur has showcased what it's really like to be tested for the deadly coronavirus. 

GPs and councils in England were promised the results from hundreds of thousands of swabs carried out at drive-through centres after the UK shifted to 'pillar two' of its testing scheme.

England's Test stars reportedly face strict bio-secure measures as part of ambitious plans to ensure their summer series' against West Indies and Pakistan are staged.

With just 13 days to go until Health Secretary Matt Hancock has promised the UK will test 100,000 people a day, but figures showed there has been no progress for a week.

Hoffnung, Michele, author

Dewey Library - P217.52.R45 2019

Until last month, polyester swabs were not manufactured in India and were imported from the US or China. With global demand for this product going up, it became difficult and more expensive to buy these swabs from either country.