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WSLH Helps CDC Receive Approval for New Flu Test MADISON – The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) was one of six state laboratories that helped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a genetic-based test method that can identify influenza strains in hours, rather than days. This new test method will aid with rapid response if a novel influenza subtype emerges or in the event of an influenza pandemic. The WSLH and five other state labs provided validation testing of the new method. CDC received approval for the test this week. WSLH Communicable Disease Division and Emergency Laboratory Response Director Dr. Pete Shult says this is just the latest WSLH-CDC collaboration on influenza issues. “A few years ago CDC asked us to be the first state lab to develop pyrosequencing testing capabilities to determine at the molecular level whether influenza strains circulating during the normal flu season are resistant to the anti-viral medication prescribed by doctors,” Shult explains. “Until that time, CDC was the only laboratory doing this important testing to help doctors know if the medication they’re prescribing is effective. We also work with CDC and the Wisconsin Division of Public Health to track influenza activity in the state and nationally.” According to Shult, the WSLH’s laboratory-based influenza tracking program and working relationships with hospital and clinical labs and physicians’ offices in Wisconsin benefited the CDC’s pursuit of approval for the test method. “Because of our strong surveillance program with the clinical labs and rapid influenza test sites we could get a large number of specimens, submitted to us for confirmatory testing, to perform the necessary validation testing for CDC,” Shult explains. “If we needed more, we would call up some of these testing sites and ask, and they would send them. Not every state lab can do that as easily.” Posted By: Jan Klawitter, WSLH Public Affairs and Training Manager
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