Ad interim recommendations for diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 infection by the IFCC SARS-CoV-2 variants working group

Giuseppe Lippi; Julien Favresse; Michael M Gromiha; Jeffrey A SoRelle; Mario Plebani; Brandon M Henry

doi:10.1515/cclm-2022-0345

Ad interim recommendations for diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 infection by the IFCC SARS-CoV-2 variants working group

Clin Chem Lab Med. 2022 Apr 22;60(7):975-981. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2022-0345. Print 2022 Jun 27.

Authors

Giuseppe Lippi^{1

2

3}, Julien Favresse^{1

4}, Michael M Gromiha^{1

5}, Jeffrey A SoRelle^{1

6}, Mario Plebani^{1

7}, Brandon M Henry^{1

8}

Affiliations

¹ IFCC SARS-CoV-2 Variants Working Group, Verona, Italy.
² IFCC Task Force on COVID-19, Verona, Italy.
³ Section of Clinical Biochemistry and School of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinique St-Luc Bouge, Namur, Belgium.
⁵ Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
⁶ Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
⁷ Department of Medicine-DIMED, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
⁸ Clinical Laboratory, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

PMID: 35452576
DOI: 10.1515/cclm-2022-0345

Abstract

This document, endorsed by the IFCC Working Group on SARS-CoV-2 Variants, aims to update previous indications for diagnosing acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, taking into consideration the evidence that has emerged after the origin and spread of new lineages and sub-lineages of the virus characterized by mutated genetics and altered biochemical, biological and clinical characteristics. These indications encompass the use of different diagnostic strategies in specific clinical settings, such as high risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (symptomatic patients), low risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (asymptomatic subjects) at hospital admission/contact tracing, testing in asymptomatic subjects, in epidemiologic surveys and/or population screening, along with tentative indications for identification of new lineages and/or sub-lineages of SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; diagnosis; sequencing; variants.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / diagnosis
Humans
SARS-CoV-2* / genetics

Supplementary concepts

SARS-CoV-2 variants