The University of Washington Virology Division
performs testing for a full range of human pathogens including Herpes group, HIV, respiratory, and enteric viruses. Techniques used are molecular PCR diagnostics and sequencing for both standard pathogens and esoteric or non-culturable viruses, tissue culture with direct antigen detection, and serological assays such as Western blot for HSV types 1 and 2.
In the News
2020 Inventor of the Year: Alex Greninger, M.D., Ph.D., and Keith Jerome, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Greninger and Dr. Jerome were named the 2020 UW Medicine Inventor of the Year for developing an early, reliable, diagnostic test for the coronavirus! Their work made it possible for UW Medicine to meet much of King County and Washington state’s need for rapid-turnaround COVID-19 testing.
Virology Offering Monkeypox Testing
King County has seen over 500 probable and confirmed cases of Monkeypox as of July, 2022. Healthcare providers can order UW Virology Monkeypox testing here.
Monkeypox is a rare viral illness that can begin with flu-like symptoms and swelling of the lymph nodes followed by a rash on the face and body or with an isolated rash in the genital or groin area, sometimes without other symptoms. Monkeypox is spread through close, direct contact with someone who has the virus or items they have used.
People should be alert for the appearance of new rashes characterized by sores, bumps or fluid filled bumps and seek medical evaluation if they develop such a rash. Flu-like symptoms, such as swollen lymph nodes, fever, chills, headaches or muscle aches, exhaustion may occur before a rash or sores.
Most people recover in 2-4 weeks, but the disease can be serious, especially for immunocompromised people, children, and pregnant women.
Current King County case numbers can be found here.
UW Virology completed their 5,000,000th Covid PCR test since the pandemic began in March of 2020! This milestone is significant for the Seattle-area community and the 150 faculty and 1,500 staff who work in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. Read more here.