Influenza and Coronavirus

Handling the outbreak of Covid-19 and the spread of H5N1 around the world.

The Problem

Highly infectious and prevalent diseases.

H5N1 Influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 are RNA respiratory viruses that causes fever and other symptoms.

SARS-CoV-2 has become endemic throughout the World and while it is currently a low morbidity and low mortality infection, concern about new mutations and new coronavirus strains require vigilance.

H5N1 is endemic in the wild bird population and has been adapting to mammals. Human cases remain low, but small clusters of human cases in Asia have had high mortality. The recent outbreak in dairy cows in the United States has raised alarms, and renewed focus.

The Need

Safe specimen handling and highly sensitive screening.

As strains of influenza and coronavirus continue to spread and evolve, safe specimen handling and highly sensitive screening of both symptomatic and asymptomatic high-risk individuals is critical.

Samples suspected of containing potentially infectious agents should be handled under proper containment. Inactivated samples do not require containment.

Early Rt-PCR testing challenges in China were likely due to degraded RNA in samples. Accurate diagnostic requires that the RNA in the sample is intact.

Our Approach

We developed PrimeStore® MTM to inactivate highly infectious specimens.

PrimeStore MTM is FDA-cleared for multiple sample types used for the detection of respiratory viruses. Multiple clinical studies using PrimeStore MTM have been conducted in the most challenging conditions in the world, with excellent results for respiratory viruses in both virus specific assays and respiratory multiplex assays.

PrimeStore MTM has been demonstrated to fully inactivate viruses within seconds and stabilize the RNA/DNA for molecular testing and characterization. Inactivating the virus allows for testing to take place outside of containment facilities, opening up more testing laboratories.

Collaborators

We are working closely with local and global governments, organizations and laboratories to ensure adequate, high-quality sample collection capability around the world.