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Over-the-counter microbiology
Clinical Microbiology Newsletter December 15, 1987
Vol. 9, No. 24
Over-the-Counter Microbiology R. J. Zabransky, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin Medical School at Mt. Sinai Medical Center Milwaukee, WI 53201 Imagine leafing through your most recent issue of Peoples' Magazine or your local Sunday newspaper and seeing an ad for an over-the-counter (OTC) test for gonorrhea, or, during a commercial break for "Murder, She Wrote," an ad for testing your child for streptococcal pharyngitis, or, while wandering down the aisles of your local pharmacy, an ad for testing your stool for Clostridium difficile toxin. You won't see any of these ads today, but in the drug store, next to the toothpaste and bandaids, you will see an array of pregnancy tests, glucose monitoring tests, and specimen collection kits, all designed for use by the consumer. After video cassette rentals, home test kits are the "hottest" selling items in drug stores. Local pharmacists have ANNOUNCEMENT
New Newsletter Editor Beginning with the January 1, 1988 issue, Dr. Mary Jane Ferraro will join us as an editor of the Clinical Microbiology Newsletter. Dr. Ferraro is Director of the Francis Blake Bacteriology laboratories at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine (Microbiology) at Harvard Medical School. She is the Councilor-elect for the Clinical Micro-
CMNEEJ 9(24)189-196,1987
become providers of home collection kits for drug screening and sexually transmitted disease tests. They, or the consumer, can mail the specimens to reference labs for analysis, and receive results without involving the clinician or the laboratory middle-man. We all know that the clinical laboratory is losing work. Over the years, many test kits have become userfriendly. They are based upon relatively foolproof methodologies. From the physician's standpoint, and even for the patient, self-testing has distinct advantages, by far the most important of which is convenience (5). The patient does not have to visit the physician, or be poked and probed by a nurse of a venipuncture technician, and results are available in a relatively short period of time.
In This Issue Over-the-Counter Microbiology..189 What's wrong, what's right, and what's available, and what's needed in microbiologic home-use in vitro diagnostic device
Interpretation of Microbiology Results: An Attitude Problem ...193 Making the laboratory computer work for you and your laboratory
Concomitant Pulmonary Infection with B r a n l m m e l l a catarrhalis and Pasteurella
Problems With OTC Tests
multocida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
So where is the problem? The problem is that by misinterpreting or
Case report of an unusual polymicrobic infection
biology Division of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and was a member of the ASM ad hoc Commission on Clinical Microbiology. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease and is active in a number of local and national societies. Dr. Ferraro's major research interests include methods for early, direct detection of microorganisms in clinical specimens; automated diagnostic methods; and utiliza-
Elsevier
195
tion and cost-effectiveness of diagnostic tests in clinical microbiology. We look forward to her help in maintaining the Newsletter as a current and high quality publication. We would like to thank Dr. Marie B. Coyle for her many efforts as a Newsletter editor during the past 2 years and wish her success in her ongoing ventures.
P. A. Granato J. A. Morello R. J. Zabransky
0196-4399/87/$0.00 + 02.20
Vol. 9, No. 24
Over-the-Counter Microbiology R. J. Zabransky, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin Medical School at Mt. Sinai Medical Center Milwaukee, WI 53201 Imagine leafing through your most recent issue of Peoples' Magazine or your local Sunday newspaper and seeing an ad for an over-the-counter (OTC) test for gonorrhea, or, during a commercial break for "Murder, She Wrote," an ad for testing your child for streptococcal pharyngitis, or, while wandering down the aisles of your local pharmacy, an ad for testing your stool for Clostridium difficile toxin. You won't see any of these ads today, but in the drug store, next to the toothpaste and bandaids, you will see an array of pregnancy tests, glucose monitoring tests, and specimen collection kits, all designed for use by the consumer. After video cassette rentals, home test kits are the "hottest" selling items in drug stores. Local pharmacists have ANNOUNCEMENT
New Newsletter Editor Beginning with the January 1, 1988 issue, Dr. Mary Jane Ferraro will join us as an editor of the Clinical Microbiology Newsletter. Dr. Ferraro is Director of the Francis Blake Bacteriology laboratories at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine (Microbiology) at Harvard Medical School. She is the Councilor-elect for the Clinical Micro-
CMNEEJ 9(24)189-196,1987
become providers of home collection kits for drug screening and sexually transmitted disease tests. They, or the consumer, can mail the specimens to reference labs for analysis, and receive results without involving the clinician or the laboratory middle-man. We all know that the clinical laboratory is losing work. Over the years, many test kits have become userfriendly. They are based upon relatively foolproof methodologies. From the physician's standpoint, and even for the patient, self-testing has distinct advantages, by far the most important of which is convenience (5). The patient does not have to visit the physician, or be poked and probed by a nurse of a venipuncture technician, and results are available in a relatively short period of time.
In This Issue Over-the-Counter Microbiology..189 What's wrong, what's right, and what's available, and what's needed in microbiologic home-use in vitro diagnostic device
Interpretation of Microbiology Results: An Attitude Problem ...193 Making the laboratory computer work for you and your laboratory
Concomitant Pulmonary Infection with B r a n l m m e l l a catarrhalis and Pasteurella
Problems With OTC Tests
multocida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
So where is the problem? The problem is that by misinterpreting or
Case report of an unusual polymicrobic infection
biology Division of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and was a member of the ASM ad hoc Commission on Clinical Microbiology. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease and is active in a number of local and national societies. Dr. Ferraro's major research interests include methods for early, direct detection of microorganisms in clinical specimens; automated diagnostic methods; and utiliza-
Elsevier
195
tion and cost-effectiveness of diagnostic tests in clinical microbiology. We look forward to her help in maintaining the Newsletter as a current and high quality publication. We would like to thank Dr. Marie B. Coyle for her many efforts as a Newsletter editor during the past 2 years and wish her success in her ongoing ventures.
P. A. Granato J. A. Morello R. J. Zabransky
0196-4399/87/$0.00 + 02.20