Zika test costs 780 dollars (Labcorp)

Labcorp started offering the test in June 2016

Current problems with Zika testing

1. Cost: $780

2. Hassle getting tested with no real benefit to the individual (no vaccine, etc)

3. Test only works in narrow time window

4. Accuracy was unstated – unknown % false positive and % false negatives

   • False Positive (I guess = 10%) incorrectly told that you have Zika
   •     Malaria infections can produce false-positives
   • False Negative (I guess = 10%) incorrectly told that you DO NOT have Zika
   •     test was taken too early or too late

   Note: I sent them an email asking about cost and test accuracy - they declined to comment on test accuracy

Note: Cocaine field tests have false positives of 10% to 30% – yet continue to put people in prison 40 years later

How a $2 Roadside Drug Test Sends Innocent People to Jail

• " By our estimate, though, every year at least 100,000 people nationwide plead guilty to drug-possession charges that rely on field-test results as evidence. At that volume, even the most modest of error rates could produce thousands of wrongful convictions."

Test was known to have false positives in the 1970’s but is still being used in 2016