Indian microbiology EQAS registered laboratory's capacity building and infection control practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in India: Lessons learnt and gaps identified

PURPOSE

The COVID-19 pandemic was unique in the history of outbreaks because of the massive scaling up of resources related to diagnostics, treatment modalities, and vaccines. To understand the impact of the pandemic among laboratory professionals, we aimed to conduct a survey to assess the improvement in the lab capacity post-covid in terms of infrastructure and accreditation status across various levels of hospitals and to determine the changes in the practice of infection control precautions during the pandemic.

METHODS

This was an anonymous, online-based survey (using 58 item questionnaire) conducted between July 09, 2021, and August 07, 2021. The survey targeted all EQAS registered diagnostic laboratories located in India.

RESULTS

The survey reached out to 1182 participants, out of which 721 (61%) laboratories completed the questionnaire. During pre-COVID times, only 39% (282/721) of the laboratories had an RT-PCR facility. Among these 721 labs, 514 used open system RT-PCR assay, 217 labs used Truenat assay, 188 labs used GeneXpert assay, 31 used Abbott ID Now and 350 labs performed rapid antigen tests. During the pandemic, 55.3% got NABL accreditation and 7.4% were in the process of applying for COVID-19 molecular testing. In this, 80.7% of the laboratories participated in the ICMR - COVID quality control assessment. It was estimated that 41.4% of the laboratory professionals were re-using N95 masks. Overall, the infection prevention and control practices varied across each laboratory and hospital.

CONCLUSION

These survey findings helped us to understand the strength and efficiency of laboratories in India in setting up new assays during a crisis time. Based on our findings, we propose to connect this network in a sustained manner to efficiently utilize the existing platforms to adapt to future pandemics.

Structure and expression of the beta-platelet-derived growth factor receptor gene in human tumor cell lines

Southern digests of DNA from 15 human connective tissue tumor-derived cell lines (and cell strains) and from peripheral blood lymphocytes from normal volunteers were prepared to compare structure of the beta-platelet-derived growth factor receptor gene in normal and tumor-derived cells. The tumor-derived samples had no alterations in gene structure, nor was gene amplification evident. Two restriction fragment length polymorphisms were detected within the beta-receptor gene. Expression of the alpha- and beta-platelet-derived growth factor receptor was quantified using Northern blots. Expression was not tumor-type specific. For example, one rhabdomyosarcoma cell line expressed only the alpha-receptor, whereas two others expressed the beta. In contrast, a human fibroblast cell strain expressed both receptor types. Alterations in receptor expression may be a result of the tumorigenic process.