D.C. lab botched Zika tests for more than 400 people

Washington Post ^ | February 16 at 3:13 PM | Lena H. Sun

[BenLurkin]

District health officials mishandled Zika testing for hundreds of residents last year, including two pregnant women who were incorrectly told they did not have the virus when in fact they were infected.

The mistakes, made public Thursday by city officials, have prompted retesting for the Zika virus of specimens from more than 400 people, including nearly 300 pregnant women who may have mistakenly been told they didn’t have the mosquito-borne viral infection.

...

Smith said she could not say if those women or any of the others whose tests were botched have given birth.

[mewzilla]

Mathematical error? How would a math error botch a result?

[mewzilla]

Types of Zika tests

Were any of these tests used? How would a math error by a human screw one up?

[mewzilla]

And if these tests are hard to perform, demand certain skills, why the hell didn’t the local public health department send them to a competent lab?!

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Infectious Disease Ping - Botched testing for Zika in Washington DC

" "more than 400 people, including nearly 300 pregnant women who may have mistakenly been told they didn’t have the mosquito-borne viral infection."

[PA Engineer]

Thanks for the ping.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Botched testing would indicate the possibility of further spread of the Zika virus, especially in the immediate environs, and possibly spread outwards.
I prefer to keep everyone advised
Better safe, than sorry (after the effect !)

[exDemMom]

In this case, the failure to properly interpret the tests might have saved lives. Women are choosing to abort their infants upon learning they have Zika... and there *still* is no definitive link between Zika and microencephaly.

[Gamecock]

So the hospital called, turns out some stupid intern screwed up my test.

[trisham]

I wonder how often this kind of thing happens? Lately, it seems that it’s not unusual.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

trisham :" I wonder how often this kind of thing happens? Lately, it seems that it’s not unusual."

In the first place, the initial testing was done in a local, District of Columbia, District health facility,
This is where the mathematical calculation error occurred, at the local level.
Subsequently, after finding the calculation error, the same blood tests were submitted to the CDC (the national medical authority) for re-test where the false negatives were found.
Statistically, the error rate on the re-test by the CDC was only less than 3.5% for the samples re-tested; however that is little consolation for those given a clean bill of health
only to find out some nine months later that they carried the virus.
This announcement by the District and the CDC points out the need for frequent , or occasional, review of medical testing protocols on the local level.

[trisham]

I couldn’t agree more, TIK.

[mylife]

Heh just had that real life experience.

Obamacare... SPIT!