Two Pandemics, One Challenge—Leveraging Molecular Test Capacity of Tuberculosis Laboratories for Rapid COVID-19 Case-Finding
Susanne Homolka, Laura Paulowski, Sönke Andres, Doris Hillemann, Ruwen Jou, Gunar Günther, Mareli Claassens, Martin Kuhns, Stefan Niemann, Florian P. Maurer
Abstract
In many settings, the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic coincides with other major public health threats, in particular tuberculosis. Using tuberculosis (TB) molecular diagnostic infrastructure, which has substantially expanded worldwide in recent years, for COVID-19 case-finding might be warranted. We analyze the potential of using TB diagnostic and research infrastructures for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing. We focused on quality control by adapting the 12 Quality System Essentials framework to the COVID-19 and TB context. We conclude that diagnostic infrastructures for TB can in principle be leveraged to scale-up SARS-CoV-2 testing, in particular in resource-poor settings. TB research infrastructures also can support sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 to study virus evolution and diversity globally. However, fundamental principles of quality management must be followed for both TB and SARS-CoV-2 testing to ensure valid results and to minimize biosafety hazards, and the continuity of TB diagnostic services must be guaranteed at all times.