According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an estimated 430,000 illnesses in the U.S. annually caused by antibiotic-resistant infections from foodborne germs.

CDC recently released data showing both progress and problems from the public health threat of antibiotic-resistant foodborne bacteria.

As part of foodborne disease outbreak response and surveillance in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene tests all Salmonella and Shigella bacteria isolates it receives from clinical laboratories for drug resistance. Campylobacter isolates are selectively screened.  All these bacteria are isolated from ill patients.

Antibiotic resistance profiles of bacteria can help identify clusters of human illness.

The WSLH shares this data with the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and, if requested, CDC.

The WSLH also participates in the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring Systems (NARMS), a tri-agency surveillance system that tracks antibiotic resistance in humans (CDC), retail meats (Food and Drug Administration) and food animals (U.S. Department of Agriculture).

The WSLH sends every 20^th Salmonella and Shigella isolate and every Listeria, Vibrio and Salmonella Typhi isolate to CDC for further characterization as part of NARMS.

 

Story by: Jan Klawitter, WSLH Public Affairs Manager

On July 2, 2014, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services added, by emergency rule, screening for critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) by pulse oximetry (POX) to the Wisconsin Newborn Screening Program’s panel of conditions. This rule became effective July 3, 2014.

More information

 

Posted by: Jan Klawitter, WSLH Public Affairs Manager

Wisconsin TB laboratory scientists are on a streak, receiving the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association (NTCA) Ed Desmond Award two years in a row.

WSLH Communicable Disease Division Deputy Director Dr. Dave Warshauer received his award earlier this month at the NTCA annual conference in Atlanta. Last year WSLH TB Program Coordinator Julie Tans-Kersten received the same award.

The Ed Desmond Laboratorian Award is given for “exemplary service, dedication and leadership of a tuberculosis laboratory professional.” The award is named in honor of Dr. Ed Desmond, a distinguished TB laboratorian who is currently a Research Scientist Supervisor in the Microbial Diseases Laboratory of the California Department of Public Health.

Warshauer was nominated for the award both by colleagues nationally and in Wisconsin.

The national Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) nomination cited Warshauer’s multiple terms as chair of their TB subcommittee, authorship on nearly all of APHL’s TB-related publications, trainer at APHL’s regional TB training sessions, and leadership on incorporating new testing technologies and assuring the quality of current ones in TB laboratories nationwide.

Warshauer’s colleagues in the Wisconsin Division of Public Health (WDPH)’s Tuberculosis Program also commended his work with APHL and the impact it has on TB public health laboratory science, practice and policy – now and in the future.

Focusing on Wisconsin, the WDPH nomination praised Warshauer as a scientist and a manager.

Congratulations Dr. Warshauer!

 

Story by: Jan Klawitter, WSLH Public Affairs Manager (submitted photo)

More than 50 laboratory scientists from across Wisconsin gathered on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus July 12th for the 24th annual Wisconsin Virology Conference.

The conference, which is hosted by the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, allows scientists working in clinical and hospital laboratories to learn about new emerging diseases like MERS-CoV, as well as old but resurging ones such as measles and mumps. Other topics included tickborne disease testing, respiratory disease surveillance and new testing technology.

The Wisconsin Virology Conference started as an informal gathering of less than 10 people sitting around a table at the UW’s old Union South building. While the conference has grown in size, its focus on scientists learning from each other remains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Story and photos by: Jan Klawitter, WSLH Public Affairs Manager

Story and photos by: Jan Klawitter, WSLH Public Affairs Manager

Four WSLH staffers spent their lunch breaks on July 12th supporting childhood cancer research and getting new summer hair-do’s.

Kathleen Cleary and Mark Conklin (Purchasing), Blake Speaker (Building Services) and Steve Marshall (Administration) had their heads shaved as a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers. Erin McCarthy (Cytology) handled shaving duties.

St. Baldrick’s is currently funding more than $2 million of pediatric cancer research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The WSLH staffers are just one of the Madison-area Shave to Save teams. The other “shavees” will get clipped on Saturday, June 14th at Hilldale Mall in Madison.

In addition to shaving her WSLH colleagues’ heads, McCarthy is a volunteer coordinator for the main Madison event.

“Many people don’t realize how underfunded pediatric oncology research really is. Only about 4% of U.S. federal funding for cancer research goes towards pediatrics, and funding for drug development from pharmaceutical companies is essentially non-existent. Raising money for St. Baldrick’s is one way to help fill this gap,” McCarthy said. “The head shaving event has been a great opportunity to make a financial impact and bring attention to the issue, while also showing support and solidarity for patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. I’m so excited and thankful to have an awesome team from WSLH joining in the fun!”

The Madison Shave to Save event will also feature a silent auction and raffle with proceeds directly benefiting patient care at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Measles and mumps might sound like diseases of the past but they’re making a comeback in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced at the end of May that measles cases in 2014 have reached a 20-year high in the U.S.

In Wisconsin, there have been 2 measles cases so far in 2014 and the state is in the midst of a widespread mumps outbreak, with 56 cases confirmed by laboratory testing as of July 21st.

Measles and mumps are categorized as vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD). These are diseases – along with rubella, pertussis, meningitis, chickenpox and others – that can be prevented or have their disease impact limited by vaccinations.

As cases declined through the years, many public health laboratories shifted away from testing for VPDs to other more immediate public health priorities.

In 2012, the CDC and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) recognized that while public health laboratories need VPD testing capability, perhaps not every lab needs to be doing the testing. So they created the VPD Project as a pilot and designated 4 state public health laboratories — including the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) — as VPD Reference Centers.

The VPD Reference Centers utilize CDC test methods to provide routine VPD testing capacity for other public health laboratories as well as surge capacity for CDC in case of a large-scale outbreak. The four centers (Wisconsin, Minnesota, California and New York) also utilize HL7 messaging to electronically send test results to CDC, strengthening public health informatics capability between state labs and the CDC.

The WSLH, a part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is not only performing viral and bacterial VPD testing for 18 state and local public health laboratories across the country, it is also the only VPD Reference Center providing test performance evaluation panels to public health laboratories.

According to WSLH Communicable Disease Division Director Dr. Peter Shult, the idea of regional reference centers like the VPD pilot project makes sense both economically and practically.

“These VPDs are resurging for various reasons but the capabilities and capacities in public health laboratories have waned over time,” Shult explains. “For some of these diseases, there aren’t many testing technologies and it doesn’t make sense for all public health laboratories to ramp up capabilities, which costs money, for all these diseases.  Regional reference centers provide enhanced capacity for the public health laboratories and the millions of people they serve, as well as for CDC.”

 

For More Information:

Measles — http://www.cdc.gov/measles/index.html

Mumps — http://www.cdc.gov/mumps/index.html

APHL Vaccine Preventable Diseases — http://www.aphl.org/aphlprograms/infectious/emerging/Pages/re-emergence.aspx

 

Written By Jan Klawitter, WSLH Public Affairs Manager

As a certified genetic counselor, Christina Zaleski has met with many parents through the years explaining the implications of their babies’ newborn screening (NBS) test results. But in 2008 when she received the call about her daughter Lucy’s positive test results for congenital hypothyroidism (CH), the confident counselor became the frightened parent. Read about their family’s story.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene website is NOT affected by the Heartbleed security bug.

Mumps cases have been laboratory-confirmed in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) and Wisconsin Division of Public Health (WDPH) have issued guidance addressing specimen collection and mumps testing questions.

WSLH Mumps Testing Guidance: https://www.slh.wisc.edu/mumps-testing-guidance/

For general information about mumps, please visit the CDC website (http://www.cdc.gov/mumps/).