CLSI Blog Articles

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

World Sickle Cell Day

World Sickle Cell Day is celebrated each year on June 19. The UNESCO and World Health Organization recognize sickle cell disease, also known as sickle cell anemia, as a public health priority.

World Blood Donor Day, celebrated every year on June 14, is a day to thank volunteer blood donors for their life-saving gift and to raise awareness of the need for blood donations. Regular blood donations help to ensure the quality and availability of blood and blood products for patients around the world. This year’s theme is “Be there for someone else. Give blood. Share life.”

Urine Versus Blood for Laboratory Testing of Pain Management Patients

Because of the risk of addiction or abuse, it’s common practice to monitor pain management patients for compliance with therapy. Unfortunately, some pain management patients have been known to take additional illicit drugs, while others who are already addicted to illicit drugs may feign pain to acquire additional prescription opioids, complicating testing.

CLSI AST News Update | June 2018

CLSI's Subcommittee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) Outreach Working Group has published Volume 3, Issue 2 of their biannual AST News Update (Spring 2018). Read it today!

CLSI's Chemistry Standards

50 years ago, in 1968, a group of 31 individuals who wanted to find a way to standardize blood chemistry testing started CLSI. Today we offer over 20 clinical chemistry documents that provide guidance on the latest methods and best practices for clinical chemistry and toxicology testing, as well as a full library of method evaluation documents that provide concise explanations and instructions for evaluation of test method performance characteristics.

National Nurses Week

This week is National Nurses Week. CLSI celebrates our dedicated nursing colleagues by recognizing the important work they do and the special interprofessional relationship shared between nurses and laboratorians. In most hospital settings, nurses work closely with laboratorians.

World Health Organization Promotes Proper Hand Hygiene

May 5, 2018 is Hand Hygiene Day. The World Health Organization (WHO) campaign “Save Lives: Clean Your Hands” is aimed at preventing sepsis in health care facilities by reinforcing proper hand hygiene and infection prevention and control. According to the World Health Organization, sepsis affects more than 30 million patients each year globally.

Company Develops Accurate Dengue Outbreak Prediction Platform

Artificial Intelligence in Medical Epidemics (AIME), a startup company, has developed a new software that can accurately predict the spread of Dengue three months ahead of an outbreak. AIME claims that the platform, Dengue Outbreak Prediction, now has an average accuracy of 86.4 percent.

Potential New Weapon in the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance

A forgotten antibiotic has shown promise in treating antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Octapeptin, an antimicrobial drug discovered several decades ago, may be the next weapon in the war against antimicrobial resistant superbugs. Matt Cooper, director of the University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience’s Centre for Superbug Solutions, said “Octapeptins were discovered in the late 1970s but were not selected for development at the time, as there was an abundance of new antibiotics with thousands of people working in antibiotic research and development.”

CLSI Partners with Dominican Republic to Provide HIV Testing Training

CLSI has been providing training in the Dominican Republic since 2016 for 11 HIV point-of-care-testing (POCT) sites as well as the National Reference Laboratory (National Public Health Laboratory Dr. Defilio). The scope of CLSI’s work in the Dominican Republic is focused on supporting the UNAIDS Initiative 90-90-90 program...