Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Feb;15(2):203-209.
doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2021.12.005. Epub 2021 Dec 9.

Evaluation of the diagnostic capacities for emerging arboviral diseases in the international network MediLabSecure from 2014 to 2018 - Importance of external quality assessments

Guillain Mikaty  1 , Séverine Matheus  2 , Oliver Donoso Mantke  3 , Elaine McCulloch  3 , Heinz Zeichhardt  4 , Jean-Claude Manuguerra  2 ; MediLabSecure
Collaborators, Affiliations

Evaluation of the diagnostic capacities for emerging arboviral diseases in the international network MediLabSecure from 2014 to 2018 - Importance of external quality assessments

Guillain Mikaty et al. J Infect Public Health. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Emerging infectious diseases pose an increasing threat to all nations around the world, including to developed countries. By definition, because they are rare or unknown, public health systems are not well prepared against these emerging diseases. To be fully prepared, countries must have implemented surveillance systems to monitor rare or unusual sanitary events.

Methods: The capacity of diagnostic laboratories is a key component of surveillance systems since they are in charge of identifying the pathogens responsible for outbreaks in a timely manner. The MediLabSecure project aims at implementing a comprehensive surveillance system for vector-borne diseases around the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. From 2014 to 2018, the human-virology group of MediLabSecure notably supported the implementation of molecular diagnostic capacities for eight arboviruses and one coronavirus in 19 laboratories of its network through sharing of protocols and reagents, and technical training of the scientific staff of beneficiary laboratories.

Results: We report the results of External Quality Assessments for four of these viruses to assess the efficiency of the diagnostic for these threats emerging in the geographic area. The results for these EQA demonstrate the success of the project in the implementation of diagnostic technics for the identification of Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, and West Niles viruses in laboratories that did not have the capacity before. However, results also show that some work is still to be done to strengthen the newly acquired capacity.

Conclusion: The MediLabSecure project deployed an effort to build an efficient capacity in identifying and survey the emergence of arboviruses in the Mediterranean area. Diagnostic technics were successfully implemented in many of the laboratories of the network, but the effort must be maintained over time to strengthen these capacities.

Keywords: Arboviruses; External quality assessment (EQA); MediLabSecure; Molecular diagnostic; Surveillance.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. WHO prioritizing diseases list, https://www.who.int/activities/prioritizing-diseases-for-research-and-de...; [accessed 26 April 2021].
    1. Faria N.R., Azevedo R. do S. da S., Kraemer M.U.G., Souza R., Cunha M.S., Hill S.C., et al. Zika virus in the Americas: early epidemiological and genetic findings. Science. 2016;352(6283):345–349. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Matson M.J., Chertow D.S., Munster V.J. Delayed recognition of Ebola virus disease is associated with longer and larger outbreaks. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020;9(1):291–301. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sinclair J.R. Importance of a One Health approach in advancing global health security and the Sustainable Development Goals. Rev Sci Tech Mai. 2019;38(1):145–154. - PubMed
    1. Escadafal C., Gaayeb L., Riccardo F., Pérez-Ramírez E., Picard M., Dente M.G., et al. Risk of Zika virus transmission in the Euro-Mediterranean area and the added value of building preparedness to arboviral threats from a One Health perspective. BMC Public Health. 2016;16(1):1219. - PMC - PubMed