Did you attend this year’sClinical Virology Symposium? My take away…Zika,Zika, and moreZika and, oh yes, Hepatitis and DBS too.

HIV is always a “core” topic with lots of good posters but the winner on stage was Zika. The most interesting issue surrounding the diagnosis of Zika seems to be“What are the best sample matrices? Urine or maybe whole blood?”The topic is still under discussion as more research is being conducted and reviewed of this fairly new viral epidemic.

Dried Blood Spot(DBS) collections continues to be on the rise due to ease of sample collection, transport and storage.. HemaSpot, the novel DBS collection device from Spot On Sciences expands its market penetration as more and more researchers and clinicians become aware of its numerous advantages as a collection tool. We are pleased at HemaSpot’s global health stage performance with HIV, Hepatitis, West Nile Virus, Chikungunya and Dengue and look forward to the several publications that are due to be released soon. So stay tuned as there is more to come….