Screening multiple samples with a single test gets more people diagnosed using fewer supplies. Two health policy researchers explain how it works and how it could help the US.
The U.S. has been scrambling to get testing for the coronavirus up to speed.
AP Photo/Francois Mori
A molecular biologist explains who should get tested, how the tests work and what the US government is doing to make tests available during a rapidly changing crisis.
Decoding all the DNA in a patient’s biological sample can reveal whether an infectious microbe is causing the disease.
ktsdesign/Shutterstock.com
Charles Chiu, University of California, San Francisco
Superfast DNA analysis is now being used to crack medical mysteries when physicians can't figure out whether an infectious microbe is causing the disease.
False positive results have raised questions about home pregnancy tests.
flickr/Rebecca
The increased demand for home-based diagnostic tests calls for stricter regulation.
A new short drug treatment for tuberculosis, called BPaMZ, is showing promise in trials.
(The National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (Georgia) on behalf of TB Alliance)
We cannot end TB with century-old technologies and poor quality care. It is time to reinvent the way we are managing TB, and overcome our collective failures of the imagination.
In low-resource settings many patients cannot access the tests they need for accurate diagnosis, treatment and a chance of survival. Here, patients wait in the Edna Adan University Hospital in Somalia, 2010.
(Shutterstock)
Public health experts enlist the molecular biology tools that create genetically modified organisms – as well as the GMOs themselves – in the fight against emerging infectious diseases.
Developments in miniaturisation can give us point-of-care tests for grave conditions such as cancer and heart disease.
Was Labor’s shadow health minister Catherine King, pictured here with shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus, right about cuts to bulk-billing payments?
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Labor's shadow health minister Catherine King, said that the government has "cut bulk-billing payments for pathology and diagnostic imaging to make patients pay more". Is that right?
Theranos founder and CEO Elizathbeth Holmes arrives at the WSJDLive in October 2015.
Mike Blake/Reuters
Humans can only do so much when it comes to diagnosing what's wrong with a patient. So why not let machines take over? They learn faster than humans and never retire.
Over the past decade, the use of pathology laboratory tests is thought to have increased every year.
Abd allah Foteih/Flickr
While the extent of the problem is unclear, we know that hospitals doctors overuse diagnostic tests. Involving patients in decision-making may be one of the best options for improving the situation.
Quintiles Professor of Pharmaceutical Development and Regulatory Innovation, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, University of Southern California