Related Articles Laboratory Diagnosis of Emerging Human Coronavirus Infections The State of the Art Emerg Microbes Infect 2020 Mar 20 1 26 Authors Loeffelholz MJ Tang YW Abstract The three unprecedented outbreaks of emerging human coronavirus HCoV infections at the beginning of 21st century have highlighted the necessity for readily available accurate and fast diagnostic testing methods The laboratory diagnostic methods for human coronavirus infections have evolved substantially with the development of novel assays as well as the availability of updated tests for emerging ones Newer laboratory methods are fast highly sensitive and specific and are gradually replacing the conventional gold standards This presentation reviews the current laboratory methods available for testing coronaviruses by focusing on the coronavirus disease 2019 COVID 19 outbreak going on in Wuhan Viral pneumonias typically do not result in the production of purulent sputum Thus a nasopharyngeal swab is usually the collection method used to obtain a specimen for testing Nasopharyngeal specimens may miss some infections a deeper specimen may need to be obtained by bronchoscopy Alternatively repeated testing can be used because over time the likelihood of the SARS CoV 2 being present in the nasal pharynx increases Several integrated random access point of care molecular devices are currently under development for fast and accurate diagnosis of SARS CoV 2 infections These assays are simple fast and safe and can be used in the local hospitals and clinics bearing the burden of identifying and treating patients PMID 32196430 PubMed as supplied by publisher