Amid spiking rates of measles both in the state and across the country, a Michigan health system has announced a "cutting-edge" in-house testing system that aims to give patients rapid results regarding the highly contagious disease.
UM Health-Sparrow announced that the new test, administered via nasal swab, is the first of its kind in the state. The test must be ordered by a physician, the health system said, and the sample can be collected either inside the hospital or from the patient's vehicle.
“We think that measles is not going to go away and we're going to see future outbreaks. This was part of making sure that we were prepared for that,” Jon Baker, laboratories director for University of Michigan Health-Sparrow in Lansing, said in a statement.
UM Health-Sparrow Laboratories is a