Group Changes Policy for Virus Test Kits

The group that certifies medical labs’ virus identification skills said Saturday it will state more clearly what to include in test kits, aiming to avoid another scare like the one when samples of a dangerous flu strain were sent to labs worldwide.

“Instead of saying, ‘We want influenza A or influenza B’ or whatever it is we want, we’re going to be more specific, down to a subtype level,” said Dr. Jared Schwartz of the American College of Pathologists, which ordered the kits from Meridian Bioscience Inc. of Newtown, Ohio.

The pathologists group also will check with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make sure the agency considers all test viruses low-risk, Schwartz said Saturday.

The comments came after a week of reports of Meridian’s inadvertent distribution of H2N2, a strain also called the “Asian flu,” to 4,700 laboratories. A lethal form of that virus triggered a 1957 pandemic that killed up to 4 million people.

Schwartz said Meridian officials told him Friday they hadn’t determined how the mix-up occurred but were looking into labeling procedures between it and the company that supplied the virus to Meridian.

Meridian CEO William Motto, reached at home Saturday, said the company’s only comment would come in a news release. Meridian’s Web site had no statement Saturday on the flu sample mix-up.

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On the Net: www.meridianbioscience.com