Cases registered in the neighboring country show the importance of rapid and accurate diagnosis

In September, the Argentine Ministry of Health identified an outbreak of bilateral pneumonia, after investigating cases linked to a private clinic in Tucumán.

The Pan American Health Organization (Paho) confirmed, by genetic sequencing, that the outbreak was caused by Legionella sp., a bacterium found in soil and fresh water. Transmission occurs by inhalation of aerosols from contaminated water in pipes, ducts of air conditioners or water flow systems.

Fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, difficulty breathing and headache were the most reported symptoms by patients. The rapid and accurate identification of the microorganism was essential for an efficient clinical management of patients, as well as for the guidance of control measures and monitoring of the outbreak.

This scenario highlighted the importance of frequently monitoring diagnostic routines and of periodically evaluating this monitoring to issue accurate reports. The diagnostics segment plays a key role in the main processes of detection, evaluation, response, notification and monitoring of public health events.

Controllab has complete solutions for analysis reliability. Among the solutions, we highlight the Internal Control and Control Strains for monitoring processes and the Proficiency Testing (External Control) for periodic evaluation of routines.