(nbcnews) – Coronavirus test kits shipped from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to labs across the country and around the world last week have had problems detecting the virus, the CDC said Wednesday.
During a briefing with journalists, the CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier said some labs were getting “inconclusive” results from the test. As such, the test will need to be fixed.
The problem was found during initial routine run-throughs with the test to make sure it was working correctly before using it to diagnose COVID-19, as the illness is now called, in actual patients.
The issue with the diagnostic test has not been reported in all states. The Illinois Department of Public Health said Wednesday it had not experienced trouble with its test kits, and is able to move forward with testing for the coronavirus. It’s unclear how many of the test kits shipped were flawed.
All samples will also be tested at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta to confirm the results.
The CDC said the problem is unrelated to a different situation that occurred in San Diego earlier this week.
A passenger who’d flown from Wuhan and was quarantined at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar was accidentally released from a local hospital and back into quarantine before it was discovered the patient did, in fact, have COVID-19.
The CDC blamed the error on mislabeling of the samples.