scholarly journals Performance Characteristics of the Abbott Architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG Assay and Seroprevalence in Boise, Idaho

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Bryan ◽  
Gregory Pepper ◽  
Mark H. Wener ◽  
Susan L. Fink ◽  
Chihiro Morishima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Serological Testing ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Reverse Transcription Pcr ◽  
Index Value ◽  
Abbott Architect

ABSTRACT Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the novel respiratory illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is associated with severe morbidity and mortality. The rollout of diagnostic testing in the United States was slow, leading to numerous cases that were not tested for SARS-CoV-2 in February and March 2020 and necessitating the use of serological testing to determine past infections. Here, we evaluated the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG test for detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies by testing 3 distinct patient populations. We tested 1,020 serum specimens collected prior to SARS-CoV-2 circulation in the United States and found one false positive, indicating a specificity of 99.90%. We tested 125 patients who tested reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) positive for SARS-CoV-2 for whom 689 excess serum specimens were available and found that sensitivity reached 100% at day 17 after symptom onset and day 13 after PCR positivity. Alternative index value thresholds for positivity resulted in 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity in this cohort. We tested specimens from 4,856 individuals from Boise, ID, collected over 1 week in April 2020 as part of the Crush the Curve initiative and detected 87 positives for a positivity rate of 1.79%. These data demonstrate excellent analytical performance of the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG test as well as the limited circulation of the virus in the western United States. We expect that the availability of high-quality serological testing will be a key tool in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.

scholarly journals Performance Characteristics of the Abbott Architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG Assay and Seroprevalence Testing in Idaho

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Bryan ◽  
Gregory Pepper ◽  
Mark H. Wener ◽  
Susan L. Fink ◽  
Chihiro Morishima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Serological Testing ◽  
Igg Antibodies ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Index Value ◽  
Abbott Architect

BackgroundCoronavirus disease-19 (COVID19), the novel respiratory illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is associated with severe morbidity and mortality. The rollout of diagnostic testing in the United States was slow, leading to numerous cases that were not tested for SARS-CoV-2 in February and March 2020, necessitating the use of serological testing to determine past infections.MethodsWe evaluated the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG test for detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies by testing 3 distinct patient populations.ResultsWe tested 1,020 serum specimens collected prior to SARS-CoV-2 circulation in the United States and found one false positive, indicating a specificity of 99.90%. We tested 125 patients who tested RT-PCR positive for SARS-CoV-2 for which 689 excess serum specimens were available and found sensitivity reached 100% at day 17 after symptom onset and day 13 after PCR positivity. Alternative index value thresholds for positivity resulted in 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity in this cohort. We tested 4,856 individuals from Boise, Idaho collected over one week in April 2020 as part of the Crush the Curve initiative and detected 87 positives for a positivity rate of 1.79%.ConclusionsThese data demonstrate excellent analytical performance of the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG test as well as the limited circulation of the virus in the western United States. We expect the availability of high-quality serological testing will be a key tool in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.

scholarly journals Anaphylactic Reactions Due to Triatoma protracta (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) and Invasion into a Home in Northern California, USA

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1018
Author(s):  
Norman L. Beatty ◽  
Zoe S. White ◽  
Chanakya R. Bhosale ◽  
Kristen Wilson ◽  
Anthony P. Cannella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Chagas Disease ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Allergic Reactions ◽  
Serological Testing ◽  
Clinical Investigations ◽  
Mendocino County ◽  
Chronic Chagas Disease ◽  
Discrete Typing Unit

Background: Triatoma protracta is a triatomine found naturally throughout many regions of California and has been shown to invade human dwellings and bite residents. A man living in Mendocino County, California, reported developing anaphylactic reactions due to the bite of an “unusual bug”, which he had found in his home for several years. Methods: We conducted environmental, entomological, and clinical investigations to examine the risk for kissing bug invasion, presence of Trypanosoma cruzi, and concerns for Chagas disease at this human dwelling with triatomine invasion. Results: Home assessment revealed several risk factors for triatomine invasion, which includes pack rat infestation, above-ground wooden plank floor without a concrete foundation, canine living in the home, and lack of residual insecticide use. Triatomines were all identified as Triatoma protracta. Midgut molecular analysis of the collected triatomines revealed the detection of T. cruzi discrete typing unit I among one of the kissing bugs. Blood meal PCR-based analysis showed these triatomines had bitten humans, canine and unidentified snake species. The patient was tested for chronic Chagas disease utilizing rapid diagnostic testing and laboratory serological testing, and all were negative. Conclusions: Triatoma protracta is known to invade human dwellings in the western portions of the United States. This is the first report of T. cruzi-infected triatomines invading homes in Mendocino County, California. Triatoma protracta is a known vector responsible for autochthonous Chagas disease within the United States, and their bites can also trigger serious systemic allergic reactions, such as anaphylaxis.

Breaking Free

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deirdre David
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Male Homosexuality ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
The Family

In the mid- to late 1950s, Pamela emerged as a critically acclaimed novelist, particularly after the family returned to London. In perhaps her best-known novel, The Unspeakable Skipton, she explores the life of a paranoid writer who sponges on English visitors to Bruges. The novel was hailed for its wit and sensitive depiction of the life of a writer. She also published a fine study of a London vicar martyred in marriage to a vain and selfish wife: The Humbler Creation is remarkable for its incisive and empathetic depiction of male despair. The Last Resort sealed her distinction as a brilliant novelist of domestic life in its frank depiction of male homosexuality. While continuing to publish fiction, Pamela maintained her reputation as a deft reviewer. In 1954, she and Charles travelled to the United States—the first of many trips that were to follow.

scholarly journals Influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization in the United States, 2019-2020

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark W Tenforde ◽  
H Keipp Talbot ◽  
Christopher H Trabue ◽  
Manjusha Gaglani ◽  
Tresa M McNeal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Influenza Vaccine ◽  
Influenza Vaccination ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vaccine Effectiveness ◽  
Influenza Viruses ◽  
Current Season ◽  
Hospital Resources ◽  
Negative Controls

Abstract Background Influenza causes significant morbidity and mortality and stresses hospital resources during periods of increased circulation. We evaluated the effectiveness of the 2019-2020 influenza vaccine against influenza-associated hospitalizations in the United States. Methods We included adults hospitalized with acute respiratory illness at 14 hospitals and tested for influenza viruses by reserve transcription polymerase chain reaction. Vaccine effectiveness (VE) was estimated by comparing the odds of current-season influenza vaccination in test-positive influenza cases versus test-negative controls, adjusting for confounders. VE was stratified by age and major circulating influenza types along with A(H1N1)pdm09 genetic subgroups. Results 3116 participants were included, including 18% (553) influenza-positive cases. Median age was 63 years. Sixty-seven percent (2079) received vaccination. Overall adjusted VE against influenza viruses was 41% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 27-52). VE against A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses was 40% (95% CI: 24-53) and 33% against B viruses (95% CI: 0-56). Of the two major A(H1N1)pdm09 subgroups (representing 90% of sequenced H1N1 viruses), VE against one group (5A+187A,189E) was 59% (95% CI: 34-75) whereas no significant VE was observed against the other group (5A+156K) [-1%, 95% CI: -61-37]. Conclusions In a primarily older population, influenza vaccination was associated with a 41% reduction in risk of hospitalized influenza illness.

Afghanistan Meets the Amazon: Reading The Kite Runner in America

PMLA ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Aubry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Novel ◽  
United States Military ◽  
War On Terrorism ◽  
Global War On Terrorism ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Global War ◽  
Fictional Representations

This essay considers the American reception of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner in the context of the Bush administration's global war on terrorism by examining the customer reviews of the novel posted on Amazon. As many of the responses indicate, identification serves as a paradoxical means of negotiating with fictional representations of foreignness. The intense and painful empathy inspired by The Kite Runner serves a valorizing function for American readers, strengthening their sense of their own humanity—an effect that resists strict political categorization. Hosseini's ambivalent conception of what it means to be human, I argue, supports a diversity of competing attitudes toward the United States' military intervention in the Middle East and central Asia, while simultaneously catering to fantasies of escape from ideological and cultural divisions altogether.

Impact of smoking on respiratory illness—related outpatient visits among 50- to 75-year-olds in the United States

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn H. Hoffman ◽  
David R. Strutton ◽  
Paul E. Stang ◽  
Susan L. Hogue
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Outpatient Visits

An Irishman in America: Irishness and Belonging in Roddy Doyle’s Oh, Play That Thing

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Genoveffa Giambona ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Historical Fiction ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Novel

The purpose of this article is to analyse Roddy Doyle’s representations of Irishness and Ireland in Oh, Play That Thing (2004). The novel is the second instalment in Doyle’s The Last Roundup Trilogy, a historical fiction describing the making of the Irish nation through the adventures and misadventures of Henry Smart, its protagonist. In the novel, constructions of Irishness are projected onto the outside world through Henry’s picaresque travels in the United States. The article examines how Irishness is constructed in the book and how it becomes intertwined with identity construction in other minority groups.

scholarly journals The pCS20 PCR assay for Ehrlichia ruminantium does not cross-react with the novel deer ehrlichial agent found in white-tailed deer in the United States of America

2004 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.M. Mahan ◽  
B.H. Simbi ◽  
M.J. Burridge
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Specificity ◽  
Pcr Primers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Pcr Assay ◽  
Ehrlichia Ruminantium ◽  
Cowdria Ruminantium ◽  
Specificity And Sensitivity

White-tailed deer are susceptible to heartwater (Ehrlichia [Cowdria] ruminantium infection) and are likely to suffer high mortality if the disease spreads to the United States. It is vital, therefore, to validate a highly specific and sensitive detection method for E. ruminantium infection that can be reliably used in testing white-tailed deer, which are reservoirs of antigenically or genetically related agents such as Ehrlichia chaffeensis, Anaplasma (Ehrlichia) phagocytophilum (HGE agent) and Ehrlichia ewingii. Recently, a novel but as yet unnamed ehrlichial species, the white-tailed deer ehrlichia (WTDE), has been discovered in deer populations in the United States. Although the significance of WTDE as a pathogen is unknown at present, it can be distinguished from other Ehrlichia spp. based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. In this study it was differentiated from E. ruminantium by the use of the pCS20 PCR assay which has high specificity and sensitivity for the detection of E. ruminantium. This assay did not amplify DNA from the WTDE DNA samples isolated from deer resident in Florida, Georgia and Missouri, but amplified the specific 279 bp fragment from E. ruminantium DNA. The specificity of the pCS20 PCR assay for E. ruminantium was confirmed by Southern hybridization. Similarly, the 16S PCR primers (nested) that amplify a specific 405-412 bp fragment from the WTDE DNA samples, did not amplify any product from E. ruminantium DNA. This result demonstrates that it would be possible to differentiate between E. ruminantium and the novel WTDE agent found in white tailed deer by applying the two respective PCR assays followed by Southern hybridizations. Since the pCS20 PCR assay also does not amplify any DNA products from E. chaffeensis or Ehrlichia canis DNA, it is therefore the method of choice for the detection of E. ruminantium in these deer and other animal hosts.

scholarly journals First Report of Potato spindle tuber viroid Naturally Infecting Field Tomatoes in the Dominican Republic

Plant Disease ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 701-701
Author(s):  
K.-S. Ling ◽  
R. Li ◽  
D. Groth-Helms ◽  
F. M. Assis-Filho
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Mosaic Virus ◽  
Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid ◽  
The United States ◽  
Disease Outbreak ◽  
Ringspot Virus ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Spot Virus ◽  
Three Samples

In recent years, viroid disease outbreaks have resulted in serious economic losses to a number of tomato growers in North America (1,2,3). At least three pospiviroids have been identified as the causal agents of tomato disease, including Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd), Tomato chlorotic dwarf viroid (TCDVd), and Mexican papita viroid (MPVd). In the spring of 2013, a severe disease outbreak with virus-like symptoms (chlorosis and plant stunting) was observed in a tomato field located in the Dominican Republic, whose tomato production is generally exported to the United States in the winter months. The transplants were produced in house. The disease has reached an epidemic level with many diseased plants pulled and disposed of accordingly. Three samples collected in May of 2013 were screened by ELISA against 16 common tomato viruses (Alfalfa mosaic virus, Cucumber mosaic virus, Impatiens necrotic spot virus, Pepino mosaic virus, Potato virus X, Potato virus Y, Tobacco etch virus, Tobacco mosaic virus, Tobacco ringspot virus, Tomato aspermy virus, Tomato bushy stunt virus, Tomato mosaic virus, Tomato ringspot virus, Tomato spotted wilt virus, Groundnut ringspot virus, and Tomato chlorotic spot virus), a virus group (Potyvirus group), three bacteria (Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis, Pectobacterium atrosepticum, and Xanthomonas spp.), and Phytophthora spp. No positive result was observed, despite the presence of symptoms typical of a viral-like disease. Further analysis by RT-PCR using Agdia's proprietary pospiviroid group-specific primer resulted in positive reactions in all three samples. To determine which species of pospiviroid was present in these tomato samples, full-genomic products of the expected size (~360 bp) were amplified by RT-PCR using specific primers for PSTVd (4) and cloned using TOPO-TA cloning kit (Invitrogen, CA). A total of 8 to 10 clones from each isolate were selected for sequencing. Sequences from each clone were nearly identical and the predominant sequence DR13-01 was deposited in GenBank (Accession No. KF683200). BLASTn searches into the NCBI database demonstrated that isolate DR13-01 shared 97% sequence identity to PSTVd isolates identified in wild Solanum (U51895), cape gooseberry (EU862231), or pepper (AY532803), and 96% identity to the tomato-infecting PSTVd isolate from the United States (JX280944). The relatively lower genome sequence identity (96%) to the tomato-infecting PSTVd isolate in the United States (JX280944) suggests that PSTVd from the Dominican Republic was likely introduced from a different source, although the exact source that resulted in the current disease outbreak remains unknown. It may be the result of an inadvertent introduction of contaminated tomato seed lots or simply from local wild plants. Further investigation is necessary to determine the likely source and route of introduction of PSTVd identified in the current epidemic. Thus, proper control measures could be recommended for disease management. The detection of this viroid disease outbreak in the Dominican Republic represents further geographic expansion of the viroid disease in tomatoes beyond North America. References: (1). K.-S. Ling and M. Bledsoe. Plant Dis. 93:839, 2009. (2) K.-S. Ling and W. Zhang. Plant Dis. 93:1216, 2009. (3) K.-S. Ling et al. Plant Dis. 93:1075, 2009. (4) A. M. Shamloul et al. Can. J. Plant Pathol. 19:89, 1997.

scholarly journals Other People’s Cabins: German Inversions of Onkel Tom’s Hutte

Lateral ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Moriah
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Uncle Tom's Cabin ◽  
The Us ◽  
Archival Work

Kristin Moriah’s essay is rooted in extensive archival work in the US and Germany, examining the transatlantic circulation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin through markets of performance and literature in and between Germany and the United States. The essay follows the performative tropes of Uncle Tom’s Cabin from its originary political resonances to the present-day restaurants, train-stops, and housing projects named for the novel. Moriah reveals how the figurations of blackness arising from these texts are foundational to the construction of Germanness and American-German relations in the early 20th century and beyond.

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