Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35878971›Full record

ReviewBMJ military health2022

Development and operation of the defence COVID-19 lab as a SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic screening capability for UK military personnel.

Simon A Weller, S R Armstrong, S Bailey, H T Burnell, E L Burt, N E Cant, K R Cawthorne, M Chester, J E Choules, N A Coe and 39 more

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in BMJ military health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

49 authors.

Simon A WellerCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK sweller@dstl.gov.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9286-2991
S R ArmstrongCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
S BaileyCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
H T BurnellOperations Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
E L BurtCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
N E CantCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
K R CawthorneCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
M ChesterCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
J E ChoulesCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
N A CoeCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2947-2584
L CowardCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
V L CoxCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
E R EmeryCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
C P EvansCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
A FinnCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
C M HalfordCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
K A HamblinCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
G V HarrisonCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
M G HartleyCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
C HudsonDefence Pathology, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, UK.
B JamesCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
H E JonesCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
E KeyserCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
C L LonsdaleCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
L E MarshallCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
C E MauleCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
J A MilesCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
S L NewsteadCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
M NichollsDefence Pathology, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, UK.
C OsborneCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
A S PearcyCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
L D PennyCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
R PerrotCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
P RachwalCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
V RobinsonCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
D RushtonPlatform Systems Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
F M StahlCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
S V StaplehurstCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
H L StapletonCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
K SteedsCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
K StephensonCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
I J ThompsonCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
J E ThwaiteCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
D O UlaetoCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
N WatersCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
D J WillsCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
Z S WillsCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
C ReesCBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
E J HutleyDefence Pathology, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and Defence Pathology combined to form the Defence Clinical Lab (DCL), an accredited (ISO/IEC 17025:2017) high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 PCR screening capability for military personnel. LABORATORY STRUCTURE AND RESOURCE: The DCL was modular in organisation, with laboratory modules and supporting functions combining to provide the accredited SARS-CoV-2 (envelope (E)-gene) PCR assay. The DCL was resourced by Dstl scientists and military clinicians and biomedical scientists. LABORATORY

resultsOver 12 months of operation, the DCL was open on 289 days and tested over 72 000 samples. Six hundred military SARS-CoV-2-positive results were reported with a median E-gene quantitation cycle (Cq) value of 30.44. The lowest Cq value for a positive result observed was 11.20. Only 64 samples (0.09%) were voided due to assay inhibition after processing started.

conclusionsThrough a sustained effort and despite various operational issues, the collaboration between Dstl scientific expertise and Defence Pathology clinical expertise provided the UK military with an accredited high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 PCR test capability at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The DCL helped facilitate military training and operational deployments contributing to the maintenance of UK military capability. In offering a bespoke capability, including features such as testing samples in unit batches and oversight by military consultant microbiologists, the DCL provided additional benefits to the UK Ministry of Defence that were potentially not available from other SARS-CoV-2 PCR laboratories. The links between Dstl and Defence Pathology have also been strengthened, benefitting future research activities and operational responses.

Indexed as

COVID-19diagnostic microbiologymolecular diagnostics

Identifiers

PMID35878971
PMCPMC10958320

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.