Advances in Diagnostic Testing for the Bacteria, Viruses, and Parasites Behind Infectious Gastroenteritis with Live Q&A

Infectious gastroenteritis is a disease caused by bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens in which the small and/or large intestines become severely inflamed. Because infectious gastroenteritis can be caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasitic pathogens, clinical laboratory testing to identify the cause is less than optimized. However, due to the number of pathogens and quickness of spread, responders must test broadly to reduce not only the spread of infectious gastroenteritis but complications and emergency room visits.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acute gastroenteritis is blamed for approximately 110,000 hospitalizations, more than 450,000 emergency room visits, and nearly than 2.2 million outpatient clinic visits annually, mostly threatening young children and infants. While gastroenteritis outbreaks may run underreported, these infections occur with concerning frequency and are extremely contagious.

Spread of infectious gastroenteritis appears to be worsening due to population growth and the ease of transmission from one host to another. This webinar is a must attend program for lab managers and administrators facing excess capacity issues with PCR analyzers, or those looking to reduce the cost and time in testing for gastrointestinal infections.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the overview of infectious gastroenteritis for reference laboratory, physician office, and nurse leaders.

2. Discuss why identifying cause of infectious gastroenteritis is difficult (causes and spread).

3. Compare advances in molecular diagnostics for infectious gastroenteritis to traditional culture and microscopy procedures (testing methods).

4. Discover new perspectives in the clinical utility of limited sets of pathogenic targets.