CLSI Blog Articles

Read the latest articles about CLSI and laboratory standards in the official CLSI Blog. Browse our most recent blog articles below.

What Does the End of the Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Mean for Medical Labs & Device Manufacturers?

The end of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 means that medical laboratories and device manufacturers will need to adjust their reporting requirements. During the PHE, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had the authority to require lab tests for COVID-19 be reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This reporting requirement is no longer in effect.

Critical Standards Added to CLSI’s Micro Free

CLSI has renamed its free read-only microbiology portal and added new standards essential for susceptibility testing. CLSI is committed to making resources broadly available to users around the globe to help improve health care and save lives. These free standards provide critical information for improving the management of infectious diseases, reducing antimicrobial resistance, and saving lives worldwide.

What Labs Need to Know About the CDC’s Marburg Virus Advisory

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory on April 6 about two confirmed outbreaks of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania. To date, no confirmed cases of MVD related to these outbreaks have been reported in the United States or other countries. The CDC Health Advisory summarizes their recommendations for case identification, testing, and clinical laboratory biosafety considerations in the United States.

Laboratories Can Help the Battle Against Candida Auris by Following Established Guidelines

Candida auris is a type of yeast that has become a growing concern in recent years due to its ability to cause severe infections that are difficult to treat. C. auris was first identified in 2009 in Japan, but since then has spread to other countries and become a global health threat.

CDC Issues Health Alert for Extensively Drug Resistant Shigella

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health alert after observing a sharp increase in the number of cases of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Shigella–a bacteria that causes shigellosis, a major form of inflammatory diarrhea. According to the CDC, the proportion of Shigella infections in the US that are resistant to all known antibiotic treatments rose from zero in 2015 to 0.4% in 2019, before leaping to 5% last year.

Member Case Study: Creating a CLSI Intelligence Team at Your Organization

During CLSI’s latest member webinar, Expanding CLSI Involvement at Your Organization, member delegate Victoria Petrides, MS, Program Manager, Technical Design Quality from Abbott discussed how Abbott set up a CLSI Intelligence Team to increase volunteer involvement. Some of the key points from the webinar included the advantages of expanded CLSI involvement, the challenges faced by Abbott before the formation of the CLSI Intelligence Team, and a roadmap to expanding CLSI involvement at your organization.

Global Health Partnerships January-February 2023 Updates

CLSI staff recently returned from a busy trip that included stops in India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Highlights from the trip included attending the India Directors Conclave and MedLab Middle East 2023, as well as hosting a three-day training on the updates to ISO 15189:2022. Learn more about what our staff accomplished on this international trip!