Point-of-care Testing Devices Research Articles

User‐friendly point of care test device for detection of arsenic in potable water: Prototype, design, and artifact

AbstractArsenic, a common pollutant, harms human health, and its WHO's permissible is 10 μg/L in drinking water. This research aimed to develop a paper‐based point of care test (POCT) device for rapid detection of arsenic with a concentration of ~10 μg/L in potable water. In this, arsenic was converted to arsine gas, which was identified by a paper sensor by producing a characteristic color due to specificity of the reaction. The sensor was constructed by impregnating gold chloride (NaAuCl4) on a paper strip. The device had a very good response time, nearly 4 and 2 min for arsenic concentrations of (10–20) and above 20 (20–500) μg/L, respectively. The device also gave decent results for the field samples like river and groundwater. The device could be used for both qualitative and quantitative assays. ImageJ software was used for quantitative estimation, which accorded with atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) results.

Recent Advances in Molecular Point of Care Tests

Molecular point of care tests has become promising methods for the global control of infectious diseases in recent years. Different kinds of point of care testing devices have been introduced into the market in the last decade. They are mainly based on miniaturization and integration of sample processing, nucleic acid amplification, and detection systems. These devices must offer a low-cost, sensitive, specific, and practical analysis to be used especially in low-resource settings. Microfluidics has high potential for handling very small volumes of fluids on a single platform. The key design features for molecular point of care tests in resource-limited settings include isothermal nucleic acid amplification methods to eliminate the need for a thermocycler, lyophilized reagents for long-term stability at high temperature and relatively simple test procedures. CRISPR-Cas-based new generation molecular point of care tests have been developed in recent years. In these tests Cas enzymes are used as highly specific target sequence recognition elements. Collateral cleavage activity of these enzymes cleaves both target sequence and labeled RNA in the mixture and a signal is generated. The ongoing Coronavirus 2019 pandemic has shown the importance of rapid diagnostic tests for the prevention of further spread. Although real-time polymerase chain reaction method was used successfully for the rapid diagnosis during the pandemic, additional rapid and practical tests that could be performed outside the laboratories would provide even faster diagnosis and lighten the burden of test load in large central laboratories. Molecular point of care tests are considered to be one of the best candidates to fill the this gap in the near future. The future technology challenges will be the standardization of the methods and further miniaturization of the system components. In this review article, point-of-care tests adapted from nucleic acid amplification methods with a large number of studies in the literature and tests based on the CRISPR-Cas system which constitutes the newest group and which is among the point-of-care molecular tests based on new nextgeneration sequencing have been discussed.

Plasmonic Approaches for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Viral Particles.

The ongoing highly contagious Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), underlines the fundamental position of diagnostic testing in outbreak control by allowing a distinction of the infected from the non-infected people. Diagnosis of COVID-19 remains largely based on reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), identifying the genetic material of the virus. Molecular testing approaches have been largely proposed in addition to infectivity testing of patients via sensing the presence of viral particles of SARS-CoV-2 specific structural proteins, such as the spike glycoproteins (S1, S2) and the nucleocapsid (N) protein. While the S1 protein remains the main target for neutralizing antibody treatment upon infection and the focus of vaccine and therapeutic design, it has also become a major target for the development of point-of care testing (POCT) devices. This review will focus on the possibility of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based sensing platforms to convert the receptor-binding event of SARS-CoV-2 viral particles into measurable signals. The state-of-the-art SPR-based SARS-CoV-2 sensing devices will be provided, and highlights about the applicability of plasmonic sensors as POCT for virus particle as well as viral protein sensing will be discussed.

An all-in-one point-of-care testing device for multiplexed detection of respiratory infections

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for rapid, cost-effective, and reliable point-of-care testing (POCT) devices for massive population screening. The co-circulation of SARS-CoV-2 with several seasonal respiratory viruses highlights the need for multiplexed biosensing approaches. Herein, we present a fast and robust all-in-one POCT device for parallel viral antigen and serological analysis. The biosensing approach consists of a functionalized polycarbonate disc-shaped surface with microfluidic structures, where specific bioreagents are immobilized in microarray format, and a portable optoelectronic analyzer. The biosensor quantifies the concentration of viral antigens and specific immunoglobulins G and M for SARS-CoV-2, influenza A/B, adenovirus, and respiratory syncytial virus, using 30 μL of a sample. The semi-automated analysis of 6 samples is performed in 30 min. Validation studies performed with 135 serum samples and 147 nasopharyngeal specimens reveal high diagnostic sensitivity (98–100%) and specificity (84–98%), achieving an excellent agreement (κ = 0.937) with commercial immunoassays, which complies with the World Health Organization criteria for POC COVID-19 diagnostic tests. The versatility of the POCT device paves the way for the detection of other pathogens and analytes in the incoming post-pandemic world, integrating specific bioreagents against different variants of concerns and interests.

Point-of-care haematological monitoring during treatment with clozapine

Abstract Objectives Patients treated with clozapine are required to have regular venous blood samples taken to measure white blood cell (WBC) and neutrophil counts to reduce the risk of agranulocytosis. The need for regular venous blood sampling can deter patients and clinicians from treatment with clozapine. Finger prick sampling offers patients a simpler and less invasive technique that is likely to be more acceptable. We undertook to evaluate a novel point of care testing (POCT) device which measures WBC and neutrophil counts using a small volume of capillary blood from a finger prick sample. Methods A total of 215 patients who were being treated with clozapine and were having a venous blood sample taken for haematological monitoring also provided a fingerprick capillary blood sample. The capillary and venous samples were tested using the Sight OLO® POCT analyser, and the venous sample also tested using a standard laboratory method. Results For both the WBC and the neutrophil counts, there was a strong correlation between the results from the standard laboratory venous method and the POCT assay (R=0.94 and 0.95, respectively for capillary blood samples, and R=0.98 for both WBC and neutrophil counts for venous blood samples). Compared with the standard laboratory venous blood method, mean biases were −1.0×109/L for WBC and −0.5×109/L for neutrophils for the capillary blood POCT method, and −0.4×109/L for WBC and −0.4×109/L for neutrophils for the venous blood POCT method. Overall, 6 of 215 (2.8%) of patients had levels below clozapine monitoring thresholds (WBC <3.5×109/L and Neutrophils <1.5×109/L) by capillary blood, and 5 (2.3%) by venous blood by POCT. Of these, 2 had sub-threshold counts on the standard laboratory method. Conclusions The POCT analyser provided results for both WBC and neutrophil counts that were comparable with those from a standard venous blood laboratory method. Using POCT devices may make haematological monitoring easier in patients being treated with clozapine, and thereby increase the use of clozapine in the treatment of schizophrenia.

A colorimetric assay for cholesterol based on the encapsulation of multienzyme in leaf-shape crossed ZIF-L

The serum cholesterol level is an important indicator of healthy and there is a great necessity for frequent cholesterol monitoring to some cardiovascular-related diseases, which puts forward higher requirements for point-of-care testing (POCT) of cholesterol. In this work, a cascade catalytic system of cholesterol is developed by encapsulation of cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) and PdCuAu nanoparticles into zeolitic imidazolate framework-L (ChOx/PCA@ZIF-L). Results indicate that ZIF-L carrier can significantly increase the catalytic activity of single or multiple enzymes, due to its high loading capacity and efficient molecular transport. Under the optimal conditions, the absorbance of reaction system performs linear relationships with the concentration of cholesterol in two intervals from 0.0005 mmol/L to 1.0000 mmol/L, with a limit of detection of 0.2176 µmol/L. The proposed colorimetric strategy based on ChOx/PCA@ZIF-L performs a good agreement with the results provided by chemiluminescence method for the serum cholesterol detection. Interestingly, a simple paper-based sensing system is constructed through a pre-reaction-transfer operation, which gets rid of the complex pre-processing requirements of traditional operations on filter paper. The presented strategy allows for the sensitive, convenient, costless assay of serum cholesterol, and paves a new way to design the POCT device for daily monitoring of healthy.

Microfluidics-Based Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Devices in Dealing with Waves of COVID-19 Pandemic: The Emerging Solution.

Recent advances in microfluidics-based point-of-care testing (POCT) technology such as paper, array, and beads have shown promising results for diagnosing various infectious diseases. The fast and timely detection of viral infection has proven to be a critical step for deciding the therapeutic outcome in the current COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn not only enhances the patient survival rate but also reduces the disease-associated comorbidities. In the present scenario, rapid, noninvasive detection of the virus using low cost and high throughput microfluidics-based POCT devices embraces the advantages over existing diagnostic technologies, for which a centralized lab facility, expensive instruments, sample pretreatment, and skilled personnel are required. Microfluidic-based multiplexed POCT devices can be a boon for clinical diagnosis in developing countries that lacks a centralized health care system and resources. The microfluidic devices can be used for disease diagnosis and exploited for the development and testing of drug efficacy for disease treatment in model systems. The havoc created by the second wave of COVID-19 led several countries’ governments to the back front. The lack of diagnostic kits, medical devices, and human resources created a huge demand for a technology that can be remotely operated with single touch and data that can be analyzed on a phone. Recent advancements in information technology and the use of smartphones led to a paradigm shift in the development of diagnostic devices, which can be explored to deal with the current pandemic situation. This review sheds light on various approaches for the development of cost-effective microfluidics POCT devices. The successfully used microfluidic devices for COVID-19 detection under clinical settings along with their pros and cons have been discussed here. Further, the integration of microfluidic devices with smartphones and wireless network systems using the Internet-of-things will enable readers for manufacturing advanced POCT devices for remote disease management in low resource settings.

Evaluation of the point-of-care devices KetoSureTM and StatStrip Express® blood ketone tests using β-hydroxybutyrate spiked samples

Measurement of β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) in blood is used clinically as a measure of ketosis when diabetic ketoacidosis is expected. With the introduction of point-of-care testing (POCT) for blood-BHB, nonproductive time is reduced to a minimum in a potential critical situation; however, studies have observed inferior quality of POCT-BHB. Recently, the POCT device KetoSure (Roche) has been introduced to the clinic. In this study, we evaluated the imprecision and linearity of KetoSure and compared this to the established StatStrip Express (Nova Biomedical) based on spiked full blood samples. We found comparable imprecision for KetoSure and StatStrip Express. However, linearity was only observed in the lower part of the measuring range for both devices. In a method comparison, higher values of BHB were measured by KetoSure than by an enzymatic endpoint spectrophotometric reference method (mean bias: 21% (95% confidence interval (CI): 4%–37%)). Conversely, StatStrip Express returned lower values of BHB (mean bias: −16% (95% CI: −38%–7%), while the widely applied POCT device FreeStyle Precision Neo (Abbott) returned values equivalent with the reference method (mean bias: 5% (95% CI: −14%–24%). In samples with concentrations of BHB above the measuring range, the POCT devices could be provoked to return falsely low results. In conclusion, the quality of KetoSure is in line with other established POCT devices; however, the KetoSure measures higher concentrations than other POCT devices. As, linearity only was observed in the lower part of the measuring range and as falsely low measures could be provoked, we advise users to interpret results with precaution.

Lab-on-cloth integrated with a photoelectrochemical cell and ion imprinting for point-of-care testing of Hg(Ⅱ)

In this work, we successfully developed a cloth-based device integrated with a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell and ion imprinting for point-of-care testing (POCT) of divalent mercury ions (Hg(Ⅱ)). PEC cells have increasingly emerged as promising power supply units in recent years. The CdS/ZnS core-shell quantum dots (QDs) are used in the PEC cell, because they improve the spatial separation and transfer of charge and broaden the absorption of visible light. Ion imprinting can identify a specific metal ion selectively in the presence of other interfering ions. To achieve noninterference identification, the QDs-based PEC cell region is isolated from the ion imprinting-based detection area. In addition, wax screen-printing can be used in conjunction with carbon ink screen-printing for economical and facile fabrication of cloth-based devices. Under optimized conditions, Hg(Ⅱ) can be determined over the range of 0.0005–5 mg/L, with a detection limit of 0.090 µg/L (i.e., 0.45 nM). The proposed cloth-based devices are also applied successfully for the detection of Hg(Ⅱ) in sweat, complex water and food samples, with recoveries of 98.2–116.1% and relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 1.2–13.9%. Additionally, cloth-based devices have acceptable storage stability and selectivity. Therefore, the presented method offers a sensitive, low-cost, portable POCT device and has the potential to be applied for human body, environmental and food monitoring in remote areas and developing or industrialized countries.

How to Assess the Measurement Performance of Mobile/Wearable Point-of-Care Testing Devices? A Systematic Review Addressing Sweat Analysis

Recent advances in technologies for biosensor integration in mobile or wearable devices have highlighted the need for the definition of proper validation procedures and technical standards that enable testing, verification and validation of the overall performance of these solutions. Thus, reliable assessment—in terms of limits of detection/quantitation, linearity, range, analytical and diagnostic sensitivity/specificity, accuracy, repeatability, reproducibility, cross-reactivity, diagnostic efficiency, and positive/negative prediction—still represents the most critical and challenging aspect required to progress beyond the status of feasibility studies. Considering this picture, this work aims to review and discuss the literature referring to the available methods and criteria reported in the assessment of the performance of point-of-care testing (PoCT) devices within their specific applications. In particular, without losing generality, we focused on mobile or wearable systems able to analyze human sweat. In performing this review, the focus was on the main challenges and trends underlined in the literature, in order to provide specific hints that can be used to set shared procedures and improve the overall reliability of the identified solutions, addressing the importance of sample management, the sensing components, and the electronics. This review can contribute to supporting an effective validation of mobile or wearable PoCT devices and thus to spreading the use of reliable approaches outside hospitals and clinical laboratories.

Recent Advances of Point-of-Care Devices Integrated with Molecularly Imprinted Polymers-Based Biosensors: From Biomolecule Sensing Design to Intraoral Fluid Testing.

Recent developments of point-of-care testing (POCT) and in vitro diagnostic medical devices have provided analytical capabilities and reliable diagnostic results for rapid access at or near the patient’s location. Nevertheless, the challenges of reliable diagnosis still remain an important factor in actual clinical trials before on-site medical treatment and making clinical decisions. New classes of POCT devices depict precise diagnostic technologies that can detect biomarkers in biofluids such as sweat, tears, saliva or urine. The introduction of a novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) system as an artificial bioreceptor for the POCT devices could be one of the emerging candidates to improve the analytical performance along with physicochemical stability when used in harsh environments. Here, we review the potential availability of MIP-based biorecognition systems as custom artificial receptors with high selectivity and chemical affinity for specific molecules. Further developments to the progress of advanced MIP technology for biomolecule recognition are introduced. Finally, to improve the POCT-based diagnostic system, we summarized the perspectives for high expandability to MIP-based periodontal diagnosis and the future directions of MIP-based biosensors as a wearable format.

Point-of-care testing in primary healthcare: a scoring system to determine the frequency of performing internal quality control.

Internal quality control (IQC) plays an important role in quality assurance in laboratory medicine. However, there is no universal consensus or guideline on when and how IQC should be analyzed on point-of-care testing (POCT) devices. The aim of this study was to develop a scoring system to determine how often IQC should be analyzed in primary healthcare on the various POCT devices. Based on a systematic literature review and a thorough process involving the whole Noklus, a nationwide POC organization, a scoring system for when to analyze IQC was developed. Four factors were considered to significantly impact IQC frequency: The importance of the analyte in diagnosing and monitoring patients, type of POCT device, user-friendliness, and number of patient samples. For each POCT device, the first three factors were given a score, and the sum of the scores determined the general recommended IQC frequency. The number of patient samples determined whether and how to adjust these frequencies in each individual general practice. The scoring system was applied to 17 analytes and 134 different POCT devices (153 analyte-device combinations). Most of the devices analyzing high-risk analytes (71 out of 74) obtained daily or weekly IQC frequency. For example, all blood-cell counters and all glucose meters should undergo IQC daily and weekly, respectively. This study presents a consensus-based scoring system for differentiated and device-specific recommendations for IQC frequency on POCT devices in primary healthcare. The scoring system can easily be adopted to other local environments and is easy to use.

Design and Optimisation of Elliptical-Shaped Planar Hall Sensor for Biomedical Applications.

The magnetic beads detection-based immunoassay, also called magneto-immunoassay, has potential applications in point-of-care testing (POCT) due to its unique advantage of minimal background interference from the biological sample and associated reagents. While magnetic field detection technologies are well established for numerous applications in the military, as well as in geology, archaeology, mining, spacecraft, and mobile phones, adaptation into magneto-immunoassay is yet to be explored. The magnetic field biosensors under development tend to be multilayered and require an expensive fabrication process. A low-cost and affordable biosensing platform is required for an effective point-of-care diagnosis in a resource-limited environment. Therefore, we evaluated a single-layered magnetic biosensor in this study to overcome this limitation. The shape-induced magnetic anisotropy-based planar hall effect sensor was recently developed to detect a low-level magnetic field, but was not explored for medical application. In this study, the elliptical-shaped planar hall effect (EPHE) sensor was designed, fabricated, characterized, and optimized for the magneto-immunoassay, specifically. Nine sensor variants were designed and fabricated. A customized measurement setup incorporating a lock-in amplifier was used to quantify 4.5 µm magnetic beads in a droplet. The result indicated that the single-domain behaviour of the magnetic film and larger sensing area with a thinner magnetic film had the highest sensitivity. The developed sensor was tested with a range of magnetic bead concentrations, demonstrating a limit of detection of 200 beads/μL. The sensor performance encourages employing magneto-immunoassay towards developing a low-cost POCT device in the future.

POS-042 THE IN-HOME STUDY: THE FEASIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF IN-HOME CREATININE MONITORING FOR EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY DURING CHEMOTHERAPY FOR CANCER PATIENTS

Patients (pts) receiving cancer treatments are at an increased risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) due to disease and treatment toxicity. Many anti-cancer agents have narrow therapeutic window and dose adjustments are critical with changing kidney function. Timely detection and management of AKI has a direct impact on treatment options and clinical outcomes. In-home point of care testing (POCT) has been seldom used in specific AKI settings. This study assesses the feasibility and acceptability of using a whole blood creatinine POCT device (Nova Biomedical StatSensor®) to monitor pts kidney function whilst receiving potentially nephrotoxic anti-cancer treatments.

Microfluidic technology and its application in the point-of-care testing field

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), countries around the world have suffered heavy losses of life and property. The global pandemic poses a challenge to the global public health system, and public health organizations around the world are actively looking for ways to quickly and efficiently screen for viruses. Point-of-care testing (POCT), as a fast, portable, and instant detection method, is of great significance in infectious disease detection, disease screening, pre-disease prevention, postoperative treatment, and other fields. Microfluidic technology is a comprehensive technology that involves various interdisciplinary disciplines. It is also known as a lab-on-a-chip (LOC), and can concentrate biological and chemical experiments in traditional laboratories on a chip of several square centimeters with high integration. Therefore, microfluidic devices have become the primary implementation platform of POCT technology. POCT devices based on microfluidic technology combine the advantages of both POCT and microfluids, and are expected to shine in the biomedical field. This review introduces microfluidic technology and its applications in combination with other technologies.

SERS-based lateral flow immunoassay strip for ultrasensitive and quantitative detection of acrosomal protein SP10

Ultrasensitive and quantitative detection of acrosomal protein SP10 is of great significance in diagnosis of male infertility. Herein, a novel point of care testing (POCT) device composed of surface enhanced Raman scattering-based lateral flow immunoassay strip (SERS-LFA) was first developed for ultrasensitive and quantitative detection of SP10. In the design, the SP10 could be authenticated by gold-silver core–shell nanorod SERS nanotags, and the as-proposed device employed the LFA as a carrier. It is found that the POCT device exhibited excellent properties for the SP10 detection with a good linearity in the range of 100 fg mL−1 to 10 ng mL−1, and detection limit of 25.12 fg mL−1, which corresponds to several hundred sperm per milliliter. We anticipate this device will be widely used in the field of male reproductive diagnosis and provide guidance to the fertility planning of age-appropriate couples.

Hardware and software implementation of POCT1-A for integration of point of care testing in research

Point of care testing (POCT) is increasingly utilized in clinical medicine. Small, portable testing devices can now deliver reliable and accurate diagnostic results during a patient encounter. With these increases in POCT, the issue of data and results management quickly emerges. Results need to be cataloged accurately and efficiently while the providers/support staff are simultaneously managing patient encounters. The integration of electronic medical records (EMR) as data repositories requires that point of care testing data imports automatically into the EMR. POCT1-A was developed as a standard communication language for POCT device manufacturers to streamline automatic data import integration. While all modern POCT devices are built with this connectivity, the systems that provide the integration layer are often proprietary and require a fee for service. In the research environment, there is not enough throughput to justify the practical investment in these data management architectures. Moreover, researcher needs are different and unique compared to data management systems for clinicians. To meet this need, we developed a novel hardware and software connectivity solution using commercially available components to automate data management from a point-of-care blood biochemical analyzer during a critical care study in the preclinical research environment.

To Compare Creatinine Estimation by Jaffe and Enzymatic Method

Introduction: Creatinine in urine and serum are used in the assessment of renal function. It is commonly estimated by Jaffe's and enzymatic method. In many institutions, serum creatinine is estimated by (POCT) Point of care testing device (Enzymatic method) and follow-up of the patients with creatinine results by other methods, analyzed in the Biochemistry laboratory. If the results of POCT do not correlate with the Jaffe method, it leads to differences in serum creatinine values and wrong treatment decisions during the follow-up of the patients. Hence, this study was done to know the difference between the two methods in a tertiary care hospital. Aim and Objective: To estimate creatinine by Jaffe's and enzymatic method and to compare the serum creatinine values between the two methods. Materials and Methods: It is an observational cross-sectional study, for a period of 17 months from November 2018 to March 2020. Seventy-five samples were analyzed for serum creatinine by Jaffe's method in the Biochemistry laboratory and by enzymatic method in the emergency department in POCT device. Results: Mean differences between Jaffe's and enzymatic method were −0.063 mg/dL, 0.070 mg/dL, 0.198 mg/dL, and 0.0685 in Group I, II, III, and all the groups together. The overall intraclass correlation coefficient including all the three groups (0.995) indicates a very good correlation between the two methods. Conclusion: Our study showed a good agreement and good correlation between the two methods, which is similar to other studies analyzed on same instrument.

Portable electrochemical biosensor based on laser-induced graphene and MnO2 switch-bridged DNA signal amplification for sensitive detection of pesticide

Developing portable, quantitative, and user-friendly analytical tools for sensitive pesticide assay is of significant importance for guaranteeing food safety. Herein, a novel electrochemical biosensor was constructed by integrating laser-induced graphene (LIG) electrode on polyimide (PI) foil and MnO2 nanosheets loaded on the paper for point-of-care test (POCT) of organophosphorus (OPs) residues. The principle of this biosensor relied on acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-catalyzed hydrolytic product-triggered disintegration of MnO2 nanosheets for releasing assistant DNA to initiate nicking enzyme-aided recycling amplification. In the presence of OPs, the activity of AChE was inhibited and could not initiate the cleavage of the electroactive molecules-labeled hairpin probe on the electrode, resulting in the maintenance of the electrochemical response to realize a “sign-on” determination of OPs. The proposed biosensor exhibited satisfactory analytical performance for OPs assay with a linear range from 3 to 4000 ng/mL and a limit of detection down to 1.2 ng/mL. Moreover, the biosensor was useful for evaluating the residual level of pesticides in the vegetables. Therefore, this novel biosensor holds great promise for OPs assay and opens a new avenue on the development of higher-performance POCT device for sensing applications in the environment and food safety fields.

Point of Care Testing for Infectious Disease in Europe: A Scoping Review and Survey Study.

Background: Point of care testing (POCT) for infectious diseases is testing conducted near the patient. It allows clinicians to offer the most appropriate treatment more quickly. As POCT devices have increased in accuracy and become more cost-effective, their use has grown, but a systematic assessment of their use for clinical and public health management of infectious diseases in EU/EEA countries has not been previously undertaken.Methods: A scoping review of the literature on POCT in EU/ EEA countries as at November 2019, and a survey of key stakeholders.Results: 350 relevant articles were identified and 54 survey responses from 26 EU/EEA countries were analysed. POCT is available for a range of infectious diseases and in all countries responding to the survey (for at least one disease). POCT is commonly available for influenza, HIV/AIDS, Legionnaires' disease and malaria, where it is used in at least half of EU/EEA countries. While POCT has the potential to support many improvements to clinical care of infectious diseases (e.g., faster diagnosis, more appropriate use of antimicrobials), the results suggest POCT is infrequently used to support public health functions (e.g., disease surveillance and reporting).Conclusion: Although POCT is in use to some extent in all EU/EEA countries, the full benefits of POCT in wider public health functions have yet to be realised. Further research on barriers and facilitators to implementation is warranted.