With several suspected cases of measles within Michigan, we thought it would be an excellent time to highlight Corewell Health West’s guidance on testing suspected patients. Specimens are sent to a reference lab for testing, which must be coordinated with local public health departments. Typically an upper-respiratory swab (throat or nasopharyngeal)  is collected for PCR testing in addition to a serum for measles IgM if collection is possible.

• Patients should not be directed to a Corewell Health Laboratory or other healthcare facility for serum collection if patient is within 4 days after the onset of rash (with onset of rash considered to be Day 0). If Day 5 of rash or later, immunocompetent patients are no longer considered contagious and may be sent to a laboratory for a serum draw.
• Corewell Health Providers:
  • Please reach out to Corewell Health Infection Prevention (IP) via Perfect Serve to make them aware of the situation.
  • Corewell Health Infection Prevention will contact the appropriate county.
• Non-Corewell Health Facilities:
  • The provider’s office must coordinate with the county health department that the patient lives in to obtain permission to send measles testing.
  • Visit the following link for county health department contact information: Slide 1 (michigan.gov)
    • The county will coordinate with MDHHS for testing permission.

The preferred testing specimen is a throat or nasopharyngeal swab collected in office. Corewell Health Laboratories do not collect swabs.​

For further collection and ordering instructions, please visit: Measles PCR – Laboratory Test Catalog | West

Any additional questions or concerns, please use the contact us link above or reach out to your local health department.