The New York Times has a story about increasingly common medical tests that could give indications of epidemics in progress... or maybe not.
Medical officials went on high alert in New Hampshire amid an apparent whooping cough epidemic at a hospital, but it turned out to be a false alarm. The test is blamed.
Now, as they look back on the episode, epidemiologists andinfectious disease specialists say the problem was that they placed toomuch faith in a quick and highly sensitive molecular test that led themastray.
Infectious disease experts say such tests are cominginto increasing use and may be the only way to get a quick answer indiagnosing diseases like whooping cough, Legionnaire’s, bird flu, tuberculosis and SARS, and deciding whether an epidemic is under way.
Faith in Quick Test Leads to Epidemic That Wasn’t [NYT]
