Open AccessVariable Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Molecular Detection in European Expert Laboratories: External Quality Assessment, June and July 2020
Author(s) -
Carlo Fischer,
Ramona Mögling,
Angeliki Melidou,
Arne Kühne,
Edmilson Ferreira de Oliveira-Filho,
Thorsten Wolff,
Janine Reiche,
Eeva Broberg,
Christian Drosten,
Adam Meijer,
Katrin Leitmeyer,
Jan Felix Drexler,
Chantal Reusken
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.02676-20
Subject(s) - external quality assessment , covid-19 , coronavirus , virology , outbreak , middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus , betacoronavirus , medicine , middle east respiratory syndrome , molecular diagnostics , transmission (telecommunications) , biology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , bioinformatics , electrical engineering , engineering
During the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, robust detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a key element for clinical management and to interrupt transmission chains. We organized an external quality assessment (EQA) of molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 for European expert laboratories. An EQA panel composed of 12 samples, containing either SARS-CoV-2 at different concentrations to evaluate sensitivity or other respiratory viruses to evaluate specificity of SARS-CoV-2 testing, was distributed to 68 laboratories in 35 countries. Specificity samples included seasonal human coronaviruses hCoV-229E, hCoV-NL63, and hCoV-OC43, as well as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), SARS-CoV, and human influenza viruses A and B. Sensitivity results differed among laboratories, particularly for low-concentration SARS-CoV-2 samples. Results indicated that performance was mostly independent of the selection of specific extraction or PCR methods.