The Crucial Role of Laboratory Medicine in Addressing Future Public Health Infectious Threats: Insights Gained from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. The Critical Impact of Patient Sample Testing During the COVID-19 Pandemic
2.1. Prediction and Better Control of SARS-CoV-2 Outbreaks
2.2. Prediction of COVID-19-Related Healthcare Pressure
2.3. Impact on Hospital or Intensive Care Unit Admissions Averted and Lives Saved
2.4. Early Identification of Emergence of New SARS-CoV-2 Variants
3. Wastewater Testing
3.1. Technical Issues
3.2. Practical Advantages
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
COVID-19 | Coronavirus Disease 2019 |
SARS-CoV-2 | Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 |
ICU | Intensive Care Unit |
CELR | COVID-19 Electronic Laboratory Reporting |
NREVSS | National Respiratory and Enteric Viruses Surveillance System |
OECD | Organization for Economic Development |
RDT-Ag | Antigen Rapid Diagnostic Test |
RT-qPCR | Reverse Transcription Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction |
RT-dPCR | Reverse Transcription Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction |
N | Nucleocapsid |
RdRp | RNA-Dependent RNA polymerase |
NGS | Next-Generation Sequencing |
WBE | Wastewater-Based Epidemiology |
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Lippi, G.; Henry, B.M.; Mattiuzzi, C. The Crucial Role of Laboratory Medicine in Addressing Future Public Health Infectious Threats: Insights Gained from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Diagnostics 2025, 15, 323. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15030323
Lippi G, Henry BM, Mattiuzzi C. The Crucial Role of Laboratory Medicine in Addressing Future Public Health Infectious Threats: Insights Gained from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Diagnostics. 2025; 15(3):323. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15030323
Chicago/Turabian StyleLippi, Giuseppe, Brandon M. Henry, and Camilla Mattiuzzi. 2025. "The Crucial Role of Laboratory Medicine in Addressing Future Public Health Infectious Threats: Insights Gained from the COVID-19 Pandemic" Diagnostics 15, no. 3: 323. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15030323
APA StyleLippi, G., Henry, B. M., & Mattiuzzi, C. (2025). The Crucial Role of Laboratory Medicine in Addressing Future Public Health Infectious Threats: Insights Gained from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Diagnostics, 15(3), 323. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15030323