NO “CAUSE for alarm from the general public.” That was the reassurance posted on the D.C. government website in the wake of revelations that health officials had botched Zika testing for hundreds of residents. No doubt the words ring awfully hollow to the nine pregnant women who were incorrectly told they did not have the virus and to scores more who are now anxiously awaiting the results of retesting to determine if they too had been misinformed. Clearly, there is cause for concern — and so it’s important there be a thorough review to determine what led to the mistakes and to guarantee the integrity of future testing.

At issue is testing for the Zika virus done by the District’s public-health lab between July 14 and Dec. 14. Discovery of an error in the lab’s testing procedure has resulted in retesting of 409 specimens, including 294 for pregnant women. So far, retests of nine pregnant women have come back positive and, The Post’s Aaron C. Davis reported, that number is likely to rise. The Zika virus can cause severe birth defects, particularly during the first trimester of pregnancy, and accurate and timely testing is critical for women who may want to determine if a pregnancy should be continued. The consequences of the false confidence that results from a mistaken test can be devastating, and it is clear the District should be held liable.

It appears the District is the only jurisdiction in the country to have experienced problems with its testing. That’s another troubling black eye for the Department of Forensic Sciences, which operates public-health, crime and forensics labs in a $220 million state-of-the-art facility that opened to much fanfare in 2012. Earlier problems with DNA testing led the U.S. Attorney’s Office to stop using the facility and a subsequent audit found “insufficient and inadequate” practices.

There is some small comfort in the fact that the Zika test errors were discovered when Anthony Tran, previously director of policy and operations at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, took over the D.C. lab. It suggests that the new leadership put in place by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) since the problems with the crime lab is more effective. Jenifer Smith, a retired FBI special agent named director of the forensics department in 2015, has gotten good early reviews for her leadership. But if those improvements are to continue and public confidence in the lab maintained, it is critical that additional information about the inaccurate testing be provided to the public and support given to anyone proven to have suffered harm because of the faulty testing.