2025 Volume 74 Issue 1 Pages 140-146
After several preliminary examinations, the Chiba Prefecture Clinical Laboratory Technologist Association conducted an external quality assessment of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification testing using 2023 commercially available reagents. Distilled water was preferred for sample dilution over the virus transport media, and the distribution concentration was adjusted to match the final reaction system concentration with each device’s dilution process. Of the 62 facilities and 62 devices evaluated across 14 models, positive samples were confirmed, excluding one model suspected to be affected by settings near the detection limit concentration. However, three facilities falsely identified negative samples as positive. Member facilities want to implement external quality assessments, and this quality control assessment using commercially available reagents is considered a stable and sustainable operation.
