Preparing for Measles Testing

July 13, 2026

Order Deadlines And Renewals - CAP

Transcript

Nancy Johnson 0:00

Welcome to Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nancy Johnson. It's Monday, July 13th. Here are a few of the stories we're working on this week.

Nancy Johnson 0:12

AI is transforming pathology. In a special Path News edition on Tuesday, CAP experts break down what it means for the profession and how the CAP is preparing pathologists for what's next. She's helped shape the standards that guide pathology worldwide. We sit down with Dr. Mary Kay Washington, recipient of the CAP's 2026 Laboratory Improvement Program Service Award to talk about her lasting impact on the profession and patient care. And the right mentor can change everything. Dr. Marisa Saint Martin looks back at the mentors who shaped her career. She previews a special CAP 26 fireside chat on how you can build meaningful professional relationships.

Nancy Johnson 1:04

But first, in today's story, health experts warn measles could become the nation's next pandemic level threat if outbreaks continue to spread. In response, the CAP is rolling out a new proficiency testing program next month to help laboratories strengthen rapid molecular testing for measles. It's one of 10 new order renewal 2027 PT programs designed to keep labs prepared. Dr. Benjamin Bradley is a clinical microbiologist at the University of Utah and medical director at ARIP Laboratories. While measles cases are starting to dwindle in the U.S., Dr. Bradley says it's important to stay vigilant, particularly in areas where vaccination rates are low.

Dr. Benjamin T. Bradley 1:54

These outbreaks tend to happen in under-vaccinated communities, and so those can kind of serve as almost a tinderbox for kind of having a large explosion of cases really quickly. And part of the reason for that is just that measles is a very transmissible virus.

Nancy Johnson 2:10

As testing moves beyond public health labs, more clinical laboratories are preparing to perform their own testing. And they'll need a way to verify those tests are producing reliable results. That's where the CAP's new measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella zoster virus molecular proficiency testing program can meet the need. Unlike traditional antibody testing, molecular testing detects the virus directly and can distinguish between a rash or fever from the vaccine and true infection.

Dr. Benjamin T. Bradley 3:09

By building assays that can separate out that wild type true measles infection from vaccine strain, you can say, all right, I know you just had a reaction to the vaccine. I'm not super worried about you. So having our PT material also have analytes that can test for either of those, I think is important too, because that's really something that we're trying to understand a little bit more and bring in more into our clinical testing realm as well.

Nancy Johnson 3:38

Without this kind of advanced preparation and support, some labs won't be prepared for higher testing volumes.

Dr. Benjamin T. Bradley 3:45

Large reference labs, academic centers where they can have additional resources to bring on this testing is kind of where a lot of this starts. But certainly you are sometimes challenged with responding to the volumes when you are seeing kind of this rapid spread in cases. And, you know, asking yourselves do we need to order more reagents? Do we need to have more staffing and being very fluid and dynamic in those situations to help respond to it?

Nancy Johnson 4:14

The CAP is the only provider globally offering an integrated molecular proficiency testing solution for measles, mumps, rubella, and VZV that closely mirrors real clinical laboratory workflows.

Nancy Johnson 4:29

That does it for the Daily Edition. Share this newscast with your social media network. And if you're watching this video on YouTube, hit the like button and leave a comment. And if you've got a story we should be covering, write to us at stories at CAP.org. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern for an audio episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great day.