A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test detects genetic material from a pathogen or abnormal cell sample. Ways of collecting samples include a nasal swab, a saliva swab, or taking a sample of blood.

“Infectious diseases don’t respect borders,” says Khoa Thai, a clinical microbiologist at the Star-shl medical diagnostics laboratory in the Netherlands. To limit their spread, we need a globally ...

COVID-19 tests are in greater demand than ever, and new data about the Omicron variant can make picking and using different types of tests confusing. Molecular tests for COVID-19, like the "RT-PCR" ...