Delayed Laboratory Response to COVID-19 Caused by Molecular Diagnostic Contamination

Ramona Mögling (1) , Adam Meijer (1) , Natasa Berginc (2) , Sylvia Bruisten (3, 4) , Remi Charrel (5) , Bruno Coutard (5) , Isabella Eckerle (6) , Vincent Enouf (7, 8, 9) , Olav Hungnes (10) , Gülay Korukluoglu (11) , Thanos Kossyvakis (12) , Andreas Mentis (12) , Richard Molenkamp (13) , Shaman Muradrasoli (14) , Anna Papa (15) , Fiona Pigny (6) , Laurence Thirion (5) , Sylvie van der Werf (7, 8) , Chantal Reusken (1)

1 RIVM - National Institute for Public Health and the Environment [Bilthoven]
2 Laboratory for Public Health Virology [Ljubljana, Slovenia]
3 Public Health Service of Amsterdam
4 Amsterdam UMC - Amsterdam University Medical Center
5 UVE - Unité des Virus Emergents
6 HUG - Geneva University Hospital
7 GMV-ARN (UMR_3569 / U-Pasteur_2) - Génétique Moléculaire des Virus à ARN - Molecular Genetics of RNA Viruses
8 CNR - laboratoire coordonnateur - Centre National de Référence des virus des infections respiratoires (dont la grippe) - National Reference Center Virus Influenzae [Paris]
9 PIBNet - Pasteur International Bioresources network
10 NIPH - Norwegian Institute of Public Health [Oslo]
11 Public Health General Directorate of Turkey [Ankara]
12 Institut Pasteur Hellénique
13 Erasmus MC - Erasmus University Medical Center [Rotterdam]
14 Public Health Agency of Sweden
15 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) created an exceptional situation in which numerous laboratories in Europe simultaneously implemented SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics. These laboratories reported in February 2020 that commercial primer and probe batches for SARS-CoV-2 detection were contaminated with synthetic control material, causing delays of regional testing roll-out in various countries.

Keywords: COVID-19; Europe; PCR; SARS-CoV-2; commercial nucleotide production; contamination; coronavirus disease; coronaviruses; delayed laboratory response; molecular diagnostics; primers; probes; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; viruses; zoonoses

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Ramona Mögling, Adam Meijer, Natasa Berginc, Sylvia Bruisten, Remi Charrel, et al.. Delayed Laboratory Response to COVID-19 Caused by Molecular Diagnostic Contamination. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2020, 26 (8), ⟨10.3201/eid2608.201843⟩. ⟨pasteur-04098507⟩