The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has designated the WSLH Communicable Disease Division (WSLH CDD) an Antibiotic Resistance (AR) Regional Lab for the Midwest Region.
The WSLH is just 1 of 7 AR Regional Labs nationwide and will provide testing for Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
According to the CDC, antibiotic resistance in the United States:
- Sickens >2 million people per year
- Kills at least 23,000 people each year + 15,000 each year from C. difficile
- >$20B/year in healthcare costs
- Threatens modern medicine – If we lose antibiotics, we lose the ability to treat patients with sepsis, cancer, provide organ transplants, and save victims of burns and trauma
- Need to act now or even drugs of last resort will soon be ineffective
Part of the CDC’s AR Lab Network, the 7 AR Regional Labs are a critical component in building comprehensive laboratory capacity to detect and better characterize antibiotic-resistant pathogens. These labs will implement a regional approach to generate real-time, actionable data to prevent and combat AR threats.
According to the CDC’s AR Lab Network website:
“…labs designated as regional labs will be able to detect existing and emerging types of antibiotic resistance with gold-standard lab capacity, investigate emerging resistance faster and more effectively, and generate stronger data for improved infection control among patients to prevent and combat future resistance threats. … The regional labs will ensure more consistent and improved communication, coordination, and tracking at all levels—across healthcare facilities, state health departments, and CDC—every time. …”
All regional labs will perform core testing for their region, including:
- Molecular testing to detect colonization of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)
- Threat assessments, special threat assessments by request on new or known threats like MRSA, VRE, and VRSA
- Isolate collection for use in CDC’s AR Isolate Bank and whole genome sequencing projects
In addition, the WSLH will perform testing for:
- Reflex Culture pilot with Salmonella and Entertoxigenic E. coli
- Antimicrobial susceptibility and serotyping of multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae
WSLH CDD is also a CDC Reference Center for influenza surveillance, vaccine-preventable diseases, and foodborne/enteric diseases.
