Il valore della medicina di laboratorio nella pandemia da SARS-CoV-2
The value of laboratory medicine in SARS-CoV-2 outbreak

AUTORI

ABSTRACT

The value of laboratory medicine in SARS-CoV-2 outbreak

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) represents a challenge to all heathcare systems. It represents, however, a formidabile opportunity to highlight the value of laboratory medicine. Laboratory tests, in fact, play a key role in allowing the etiological diagnosis thanks to the reverse transcription-plymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) to detect the virus in nasopharingeal specimes as well as in other samples collected by using a flocked swab. The second essential contribution that laboratory tests are providing encompasses staging, prognostication and therapeutic monitoring of COVID-19. Finally, serological tests play a central role for surveillance purposes, for using plasma containing antibodies from recovered patients as experimental treatment and for better understanding the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 to eventually address vaccine developments.

BIBLIOGRAFIA