How to test for coronavirus: Company 'rapidly' developing new tools

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Wuhan hospital director dies of coronavirus

The director at the hospital at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in China has died from the disease; Greg Palkot reports on the latest infection numbers.

As health authorities across the globe turn their attention toward China to monitor the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that’s sickened over 75,000 globally and killed some 2,000 others, at least one company in the U.S. is working to develop a diagnostic tool that aims to streamline the process of detecting the specific strain of the virus in a patient.

For now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends health care providers who suspect a patient may be suffering from symptoms of coronavirus order laboratory tests using respiratory specimens and serum to detect coronaviruses. However, there are several coronaviruses with similar genetic sequences, including MERS and SARS, and symptoms reported by the patient may be mistaken for another illness.

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That’s why Dwight Egan, Co-Diagnostics' chief executive officer, said his company is working to “rapidly” develop an accurate diagnostic test to detect COVID-19, and eliminate the chance of missed diagnoses.

“The WHO and CDC have published guidelines that we are utilizing in our design process,” he said in a statement to Fox News. “One of the most important advantages of our technology is its ability to accurately differentiate between similar genetic sequences, in order to reduce the likelihood of a false-positive diagnosis. If the outbreak continues, our industry will be an important vehicle for the commercialization and distribution of diagnostics.”

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The virus, which officials determined is transmissible among humans, has popped up in at least 25 countries largely in patients who passed through the Wuhan region. One of the fears is that a patient experiencing the most severe stage of the infection may become a super-spreader, or someone who transmits the virus to a more considerable number of people than the average infected person.

There are also suspicions that the Chinese government may be downplaying the outbreak, and underreporting the virus after the way the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak was handled by the country.

In a bid to stop the virus from spreading any further, the city of Wuhan – the epicenter of the virus outbreak – remains on lockdown, while the U.S. State Department in early February issued a Level 4 travel advisory for all of China, warning Americans to avoid going to the country altogether. In recent weeks, the U.S. and several other countries have also worked to fly their citizens out of the illness-stricken city, many of whom were placed in quarantine for a period of time after they were evacuated.

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“The situation is still developing and from our perspective, the way that we can be most helpful is to create multiplex diagnostic tests that are affordable in any market in the world,” Egan told Fox News. “Our mandate is to be as helpful in a public health crisis as is possible and so we are moving quickly and aggressively to do just that. Our patented process is unique and could meaningfully support and assist other important initiatives being done by the CDC and WHO.”