Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic: How a Master's in Clinical Laboratory Sciences Program Adapted Through the Modification of Existing Resources.

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to describe the rapid adaption of a Master of Clinical Laboratory Sciences (MCLS) program to the abrupt suspension of classroom instruction and laboratory training at affiliated hospitals in compliance with the New York governor's executive order in March 2020. METHODS: Teaching modifications included greater emphasis on Zoom video conferencing, Media Lab assignments, independent self-study, and online testing. RESULTS: Instruction of academic coursework continued uninterrupted using previously established teaching modalities. Clinical training presented 2-fold concerns, credit hours needed for the master's degree and clinical hours required for New York State licensing. The latter was delayed. CONCLUSION: The real-time need to deliver laboratory science education during a time of statewide closure was fulfilled using available teaching modalities. The resulting uninterrupted academic and clinical training ensured the education of the incoming workforce of our clinical laboratories. This teaching strategy may be considered during new curricula development in preparation for times of future crises.

Borrelia burgdorferi BmpA, BmpB, and BmpD proteins are expressed in human infection and contribute to P39 immunoblot reactivity in patients with Lyme disease.

The Bmp proteins are a paralogous family of chromosomally encoded Borrelia burgdorferi lipoproteins. They have similar predicted immunogenicities and similar electrophoretic mobilities by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. P39 reactivity against Borrelia burgdorferi lysate in immunoblots of Lyme disease patients has long been identified with reactivity to BmpA, but responses to other Bmp proteins have not been examined. To determine if patients with Lyme disease developed such responses, immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-Bmp reactivity in patient and control sera was studied by using soluble recombinant Bmp (rBmp) proteins expressed in Escherichia coli. Although some patient sera contained IgG immunoblot and immunodot reactivities against all four Bmp proteins, analysis of IgG anti-Bmp fine specificity by a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with graded doses of soluble homologous and heterologous rBmp proteins showed that only the responses to BmpA, BmpB, and BmpD were specific. This suggests that at least three of the four Bmp proteins are expressed by B. burgdorferi in infected patients and that specific antibodies to them are likely to be present in the P39 band in some patients.

Seroprevalence of antibodies that react with Anaplasma phagocytophila, the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, in different populations in Westchester County, New York.

We determined the frequencies of antibodies to Anaplasma phagocytophila, the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE), in different groups of adults and children from Westchester County, New York. The groups included 159 adult blood donors and 215 children who were seronegative for Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies, 118 adult patients and 57 children who were seropositive for B. burgdorferi antibodies, and 42 adult patients with culture-confirmed erythema migrans. Eighteen (11.3%) of the blood donors and 11 (5.1%) of the B. burgdorferi-seronegative children were found to have A. phagocytophila antibodies by indirect immunofluorescent-antibody assay (IFA). Nine of 42 (21.4%) patients with culture-confirmed erythema migrans tested at the baseline visit, 42 of 118 (35.6%) adults, and 3 of 57 (5.3%) children whose sera were reactive for B. burgdorferi antibodies also tested positive for A. phagocytophila antibodies. The geometric mean titer ranged from 219 to 315 for all groups, and the differences in titers among the groups were not statistically significant. Only one-third of the healthy blood donors reactive by IFA were confirmed to be positive by immunoblotting. We conclude that a significant proportion of adults and children without clinical evidence of HGE will test positive for A. phagocytophila antibodies when the conventional cutoff titer of 80 is used in the IFA. This information must be considered in interpretation of test results.