Hepatitis B and C are serious global health concerns. Programs are in place in both the US and other areas of the world with goals to increase awareness of these potentially serious infections. While several different types of laboratory tests are currently available to detect these diseases, researchers continue to work to develop faster, simpler, and more cost-effective tests. In June, two new rapid tests were given regulatory approval. As Hepatitis B and C continue to be major health threats throughout the world because so many people do not know they have these diseases, the simple yet effective design of these and other rapid tests may prove to be helpful in overcoming the barriers that prevent people from getting tested. Read the complete news article.

New guidelines from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Diseases Society of America suggest several improvements for preventing, recognizing, managing, and treating Clostridium difficile infections, including recommended changes in the types of laboratory tests used and the way that testing is performed in order to help detect C. difficile infections in a more timely manner.

An international panel of experts has suggested new guidelines for diagnosing gestational diabetes that differ in their approach from the current ADA guidelines. The panel believes the benefit of the new guidelines is that it might reduce the number of babies who have problems related to high blood sugar in their mothers. These proposed guidelines have already provoked a number of professional organizations to consider whether or not to change their criteria for diagnosing diabetes.

Findings from a recent survey by the CDC indicate that many primary care doctors perform in-office fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) for colorectal cancer screening using a single stool sample instead of following the current guidelines that call for home collection using multiple samples collected over several days, which increases the chances of detecting cancers and precancerous lesions. The CDC researchers urge doctors to make more effort to use home collection kits and encourage patients to complete them.