ARUP Labs launches infectious disease trends tracking dashboard

Salt Lake City-based ARUP Laboratories has announced the launch of its National Infectious Disease Test Positivity Trends Dashboard, a tool it developed to track laboratory test positivity trends for multiple pathogens. 

ARUP said the dashboard is the only tracking device of its kind. 

The dashboard uses test results with the patients’ names removed to reveal national trends that may help clinical laboratories, medical directors and clinicians detect unusual patterns, seasonal shifts and emerging infectious disease activity earlier.

“As a national reference laboratory, ARUP sees enough testing volume to identify meaningful trends for certain pathogens. This dashboard was designed to give our clients, laboratories and clinicians information they can use to make better decisions for their patients,” said Dr. Ben Bradley, medical director of the Institute for Research and Innovation.

Bradley said he recognized the utility of a dashboard through several real-world situations in which ARUP detected elevated positivity rates before official public health alerts were issued. For example, during the 2024 pertussis surge, ARUP observed a spike in positivity rates months before clinicians recognized the outbreak. He said the delay in recognition leads to delays in testing and diagnosis. The new dashboard aims to close this information gap with timely, aggregated test results trends available publicly online.

The dashboard features maps and charts drawn from ARUP’s test results and is refreshed weekly. It has pathogen-specific pages accessible through a navigation menu. A “Key Information” box directs users to specific data points.

ARUP said it designed the dashboard with strict privacy and security safeguards. All data presented are fully de-identified, and interactivity is intentionally limited.

“Our team designed this dashboard with patient and client protection at the center. We are deeply committed to sharing knowledge and equally committed to safeguarding the trust our clients place in ARUP. This dashboard reflects both of those priorities,” said Jenna Rychert, ARUP director of laboratory and clinical IT and medical director of microbial immunology.

Founded in 1984, ARUP Laboratories is a national reference laboratory and a nonprofit enterprise of the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine and its Department of Pathology. It offers more than 3,000 tests and test combinations, ranging from routine screening tests to esoteric molecular and genetic assays.