Keeping Up With the Latest CDC Guidelines
The Importance of Staying Up to Date With CDC guidelines
The CDC is recommending hospitals use a commercially available diagnostic test on nasal and throat swab specimens from patients suspected of having an infection. It could be helpful for all clinicians to become more familiar with them because it may help provide better results during their testing stages.
As doctors and researchers worldwide identify more information about this virus, these guidelines will continue to change over time to help better detect if an individual has been exposed to the virus in some way. For now, the focus should be on preventing sickness that bacteria and viruses go on by washing hands often with soap and water throughout the day and disinfecting objects like phones and keyboards at work. It is also essential to avoid anyone diagnosed with an infection of some kind.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their data for testing guidelines because they believe that many of these cases may be misdiagnosed as dengue fever or another type of illness due to false positives. Before this update, only patients under the age of 18 were tested for EV-D68 infections if they exhibited symptoms that were characteristic of having this virus and not others like rhinovirus or influenza. Now, the CDC recommends that pediatric patients who exhibit these symptoms should still be screened for the disease if they are in an area where there have been confirmed outbreaks. Testing centers will now perform the Real-Time RT-PCR test alongside those who show milder symptoms seen with RSV and rhinovirus illnesses as it is believed that misdiagnosing this disease as a cold could lead to more severe health risks.
“CDC constantly adds information. This is important because it allows people to learn more about what’s going on. It also helps us understand how they are dealing with this disease and why there are some changes,” says Diego Ruiz Duran. “If you do not keep up, then you’re missing out on vital information.”
Individuals need to keep up with CDC guidelines about the coronavirus to know which actions should be taken by each patient depending on their condition. In addition, it is essential for people who have contracted the virus to follow the steps needed to get well again and begin living an everyday life once more. This includes going back to work, attending classes, or even spending time with friends and family.
Diego Ruiz Duran stated that he believed the experience of all nine cases are connected and that it may be one of the reasons why the CDC regularly adds new guidelines regarding treatment plans and techniques due to this virus. “I think if people who come across similar situations remain positive about their overall condition, they will eventually recover. I think it is helpful to know that doctors are trying to save our lives by doing everything possible to get rid of the virus.” Ruiz Duran believes people should keep up with CDC guidelines to better understand what they should be doing during their recovery process.