b'How can this experience offer ways for labs to improveWhere specifically do you think these improvements are patient care in the future with molecular testing? going to be?One of the ways this is going to improve patient care is relatedBefore COVID-19, we had already started to see a couple of to the fact that we now have molecular at-home testing, whichassays that focused on flu and respiratory syncytial virus. We had means that we can make it faster in clinical point-of-careantigen tests, but theyre not necessarily the most sensitive. settings, too. Same for streptococcal pharyngitis. Now a PCR assay can be Molecular tests used to require a 2448-hour turnaround time.performed in the emergency department on the same platforms Then manufacturers came out with rapid, moderately complexon which SARS-CoV-2 tests were developed.testing platforms for the laboratory with a 13 hour turnaround,FDA has also approved molecular tests for some sexually depending on the test. transmitted diseases, so patients can test themselves from the During the pandemic, weve taken the leap to frequent use ofcomfort of their homes.point-of-care molecular testing, even in clinics or for patientsDo you see any other changes to how PCR tests will be presenting in the emergency department. I expect were going toused from now on?be seeing a lot more tests on the menu of point-of-care molecularUntil COVID-19, medicine was not as focused on how a virus platforms. Theyre more sensitive than antigen tests, andchanges, or how pathogens evolve. Weve now learned that we point-of-care testing avoids sending some of the more routineneed to improve how we monitor variants and mutations. Even testing back to the laboratory. with flu, we are essentially offering a yes/no answer, only adding This would improve patient care just because the clinician andwhether the patient has influenza A or influenza B, or maybe a the patient get an answer much more quickly. particular genotype. However, we know that the flu virus develops mutations that make it resistant to antiviral therapy.We need better tools to monitor mutations for pathogens other than SARS-CoV-2, and to be able to act on that information quickly. That means having tools to perform genotyping more readily for other respiratory viruses that are circulating.Esther Babady, PhDDr. Esther Babady is chief of the Clinical Microbiology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she is responsible for the management and oversight of specimen testing and provides clinical consultation regarding the ordering of diagnostic tests and the interpretation of their results. Additional research interests include the development, validation, and clinical evaluation of molecular tests that offer faster and more sensitive diagnoses of infectious diseases.12 Molecular testing thermofisher.com/infectiousdisease Contents'