The new tool uses deidentified laboratory data to help clinical labs and medical directors identify emerging disease activity and seasonal shifts.
ARUP Laboratories has launched its National Infectious Disease Test Positivity Trends Dashboard, the first tool developed by a United States reference laboratory to track laboratory test positivity trends for multiple pathogens.
The dashboard uses deidentified test results to reveal national trends that may help clinical laboratories, medical directors, and clinicians detect unusual patterns, seasonal shifts, and emerging infectious disease activity earlier, according to a press release from ARUP Laboratories.
“As a national reference laboratory, ARUP sees enough testing volume to identify meaningful trends for certain pathogens. This dashboard was designed to give our clients, laboratories, and clinicians information they can use to make better decisions for their patients,” says Ben Bradley, MD, PhD, ARUP medical director of the institute for research and innovation in infectious disease genomic technologies, high consequence pathogen response, virology, and molecular infectious diseases, in a release.
Bradley recognized the utility of a dashboard through real-world situations where ARUP detected elevated positivity rates before official public health alerts were issued. During the 2024 pertussis surge, for example, ARUP observed a spike in positivity rates months before clinicians recognized the outbreak. This delay in recognition led to delays in testing and diagnosis. The new dashboard aims to close this information gap with timely, aggregated test results trends available publicly online.
The dashboard features:
Pathogen-specific positivity trends for common respiratory, enteric, and other infectious diseases.
Geographic data visualizations to track regional shifts in disease activity.
Historical data comparisons to help identify seasonal variations.
ARUP designed the dashboard with privacy and security safeguards. All data presented are fully de-identified, and interactivity is intentionally limited to protect patient information.
“Our team designed this dashboard with patient and client protection at the center. We are deeply committed to sharing knowledge and equally committed to safeguarding the trust our clients place in ARUP. This dashboard reflects both of those priorities,” says Jenna Rychert, PhD, ARUP director of laboratory and clinical information technology and medical director of microbial immunology and customer services, in a release.
Photo caption: ARUP Laboratories has launched a national, multipathogen Infectious Disease Test Positivity Trends Dashboard, which provides deidentified test result positivity trends that may help clinical laboratories and medical directors identify unusual patterns, seasonal shifts, and emerging infectious disease activity sooner.
Photo credit: ARUP Laboratories
