Invasive Aspergillosis Screening in COVID-19 and Critical Care Patients

With the emergence of COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, there has been a marked increase in patients being admitted into Intensive Care Units (ICU) and particularly those requiring invasive ventilation. In light of this, new guidance has been provided by the European Confederation of Medical Microbiology (ECMM) for the diagnosis and management of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and/or ICU treatment under mechanical ventilation due to suspected pneumonia.

The ECMM specifically recommends the use of IMMY’s Aspergillus GM LFA both as part of the initial microbiological diagnostic pathway in all ICU and/or ARDS ventilation patients and also as part of a continual, tri-weekly screening program for SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A/B positive patients.

Available from Alpha Laboratories, the Aspergillus GM LFA is an immunochromatographic test system for the qualitative detection of Aspergillus Galactomannan in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples, providing a simple, rapid diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis, an opportunistic fungal infection caused by species of the Aspergillus genus.

The Aspergillus GM LFA works synergistically with other procedures such as microbiological culture, biopsy histological examination and radiographic evidence, combining to aid in the diagnosis of aspergillosis. It is easy to use, and provides high sensitivity, specificity and a rapid 30-minute test time, eliminating the need for batch testing and speeding up your results.

The sõna LFA Cube Reader simplifies the assessment of the intensity of the appearing lines, and is intended to be used as an aid in the interpretation of results of the Aspergillus GM LFA.

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