The first commercial test for the Zika virus has been cleared for emergency use in the U.S. and could be available by next week, according to AP. The Food and Drug Administration granted the authorization Thursday to the test's developer, Quest Diagnostics, which said it would make it widely available to doctors for patient testing. The company said the test results will initially be processed at a laboratory in San Juan Capistrano, California, which developed and validated the technology. Eventually the test could be expanded to several dozen other Quest laboratories throughout the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. Previously Zika tests were only available through a handful of government-designated laboratories. The new test detects genetic material known as RNA from the Zika virus in human blood serum.
