[BostonCard]

Were there any problems with the CDC Ebola RT-PCR test?  This narrative doesn't raise any issues (though it is from the CDC website):

https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/20...index.html

Overall, eleven people were treated for Ebola in the United States during the 2014-2016 epidemic. On September 30, 2014, CDC confirmed the first travel-associated case of EVD diagnosed in the United States in a man who traveled from West Africa to Dallas, Texas. The patient (the index case) died on October 8, 2014. Two healthcare workers who cared for him in Dallas tested positive for EVD. Both recovered.

On October 23, 2014, a medical aid worker who had volunteered in Guinea was hospitalized in New York City with suspected EVD. The diagnosis was confirmed by the CDC the next day. The patient recovered.

For the original SARS virus, it was the CDC that announced the sequence: https://www.cdc.gov/sars/lab/sequence.html (after it was found to be a new coronavirus on the basis of Joe DeRisis' viral chip).

The CDC seems to have developed a MERS test without a problem:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/lab...sting.html


[*]

Most state laboratories in the United States are approved to test for MERS-CoV by using an rRT-PCR assay developed by CDC. This test is done under authority of an Emergency Use Authorization because there are no FDA-cleared/approved tests available for this purpose in the United States.

As best I can tell, the problems with testing were unique to SARS-CoV-2, and don't seem to be reflective of a systematic problem developing molecular tests at CDC.

BC

EDIT: Note, this post was in response to Goose's now-deleted post, suggesting that the CDC in prior administrations had trouble developing PCR tests.

[BostonCard]

Were there any problems with the CDC Ebola RT-PCR test?  This narrative doesn't raise any issues (though it is from the CDC website):

https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/20...index.html

Overall, eleven people were treated for Ebola in the United States during the 2014-2016 epidemic. On September 30, 2014, CDC confirmed the first travel-associated case of EVD diagnosed in the United States in a man who traveled from West Africa to Dallas, Texas. The patient (the index case) died on October 8, 2014. Two healthcare workers who cared for him in Dallas tested positive for EVD. Both recovered.

On October 23, 2014, a medical aid worker who had volunteered in Guinea was hospitalized in New York City with suspected EVD. The diagnosis was confirmed by the CDC the next day. The patient recovered.

For the original SARS virus, it was the CDC that announced the sequence: https://www.cdc.gov/sars/lab/sequence.html (after it was found to be a new coronavirus on the basis of Joe DeRisis' viral chip).

The CDC seems to have developed a MERS test without a problem:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/lab...sting.html


[*]

Most state laboratories in the United States are approved to test for MERS-CoV by using an rRT-PCR assay developed by CDC. This test is done under authority of an Emergency Use Authorization because there are no FDA-cleared/approved tests available for this purpose in the United States.

As best I can tell, the problems with testing were unique to SARS-CoV-2, and don't seem to be reflective of a systematic problem developing molecular tests at CDC.

BC

EDIT: Note, this post was in response to Goose's now-deleted post, suggesting that the CDC in prior administrations had trouble developing PCR tests.