How Iran responded to expanding need for laboratory services for COVID-19?

Mostafa Salehi-Vaziri; Arash Arashkia; Ehsan Mostafavi; Tahmineh Jalali; Mohammad Hassan Pouriayevali; Mehdi Fazlalipour; Zabihollah Shoja; Mehdi Rohani; Saber Esmaeili; Fatemeh Fotouhi-Chahooki; Kazem Baesi; Ali Maleki; Seyed Dawood Mousavi Nasab; Zahra Ahmadi; Tahereh Mohammadi; Sanam Azad-nManjiri; Mohammad Sadegh Shams Nosrati; Mahsa Tavakoli; Zahra Fereydouni; Sahar Khakifirouz; Siamak Mirab Samiee; Alireza Biglari; Kayhan Azadmanesh

doi:10.1016/j.hlpt.2021.100506

How Iran responded to expanding need for laboratory services for COVID-19?

Health Policy Technol. 2021 Jun;10(2):100506. doi: 10.1016/j.hlpt.2021.100506. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Authors

Mostafa Salehi-Vaziri¹, Arash Arashkia¹, Ehsan Mostafavi¹, Tahmineh Jalali¹, Mohammad Hassan Pouriayevali¹, Mehdi Fazlalipour¹, Zabihollah Shoja¹, Mehdi Rohani¹, Saber Esmaeili¹, Fatemeh Fotouhi-Chahooki¹, Kazem Baesi¹, Ali Maleki¹, Seyed Dawood Mousavi Nasab¹, Zahra Ahmadi¹, Tahereh Mohammadi¹, Sanam Azad-nManjiri¹, Mohammad Sadegh Shams Nosrati¹, Mahsa Tavakoli¹, Zahra Fereydouni¹, Sahar Khakifirouz¹, Siamak Mirab Samiee², Alireza Biglari¹, Kayhan Azadmanesh¹

Affiliations

¹ Rapid Response Team, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Iran.
² Reference Health Laboratories, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

After the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020 in Iran, the rapid response team of Pasteur Institute of Iran was the first lab starting detection and report of suspected human samples. This article is a short summery of all actions from the preparedness for detecting the first cases of COVID-19, expanding the nationwide laboratory service, choosing the suitable laboratory tests and other challenges in laboratory detection during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Iran.

Keywords: AUMS, Arak University of Medical Sciences; CLN, COVID-19 laboratory network; COVID-19; EVAg, European Virus Archive – GLOBAL; HKU, Hong Kong University; Iran; PII, Pasteur Institute of Iran; QUMS, Qom University of Medical Sciences; RdRp, RNA dependent RNA polymerase; Real time PCR; SARS-CoV-2; SBUMS, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences; TIB, TIB MOLBIOL Company; TUMS, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.