COVID-19-related supply chain issues are improving, resulting in ability to bring gonorrhea and chlamydia PCR as well as enteric panel PCR testing fully in house as of Monday, February 1 2021.  Turnaround times will decrease from days to hours, but note that sample collection requirements will change.

For enteric panels (LAB8513): raw stool will no longer be acceptable.  A FecalSwab is required (Stores #105117).  The laboratory will not “collect” FecalSwabs on raw stool samples.

For gonorrhea and chlamydia PCR (procedure panel O56115, or individual PCR tests): Urines should be transported in the urine collection kit (Stores #143671).  Endocervical , vaginal, throat, rectal, and urethral swabs should be collected with the Cepheid swab collection kit (Stores #143672).

The laboratory will call providers if specimens are incorrectly collected for in-house testing for a period of 2 weeks, and mailout testing or recollection for in-house testing will be offered at the provider’s discretion.

We do not anticipate additional supply chain problems with this testing but due to the unpredictable nature of COVID-19’s impact any further updates will be provided in future broadcasts.

Questions concerning this broadcast can be directed to Bradley Ford, MD, PhD, Medical Director of Microbiology; (ext. 6-2990, bradley-ford@uiowa.edu; *8290).