Infectious Disease

In this episode of “Answers From the Lab,” host Bobbi Pritt, M.D., chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology at Mayo Clinic, is joined by William Morice II, M.D., Ph.D., CEO and president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories. They discuss current events including dengue outbreaks, new colon cancer screening technology, and insurance coverage of innovative lab tests.

Director of Mayo Clinic’s Infectious Diseases Serology Laboratory, Elitza Theel, Ph.D., joins a discussion about COVID-19 antibody testing in a recent story on NPR.

A small but in-depth study conducted a postmortem evaluation of the heart tissue of 15 patients with COVID-19, including the first postmortem cardiac findings of three patients who had cleared the virus.

Joshua Bornhorst, Ph.D., associate director of Mayo Clinic's Clinical Immunoassay Lab, explains how humans can develop an allergy to the alpha-gal molecule, and he describes a new allergen antibody test that can be used to detect it. Dr. Bornhorst also reviews other tests that should be used in conjunction with alpha-gal testing to accurately identify the scope and underlying cause of the allergy.