WSLH Medical Director and Disease Prevention Division Director and UW Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Dr. Dan Kurtycz was installed as President of the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC).

ASC, founded in 1951, is a distinguished national professional society of 3,000+ physicians, cytotechnologists and scientists who are dedicated to the cytologic method of diagnostic pathology. The ASC’s diverse membership includes representatives from other countries who share a vision of education, research and continuous improvement in the standards and quality of patient care. The ASC is a unique society that provides a forum where physicians and cytotechnologists can interact and network with each other on both a personal and professional level. ASC is dedicated to education, research, and most importantly patient advocacy.

Please note the following changes to the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene’s operations due to the observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The table below lists the hours of operations for our Clinical Specimen Receiving department. We will have staffing to accept clinical specimens at both our 2601 Agriculture Drive and our 465 Henry Mall facilities.

As always, if you have an off-hours emergency, please call the WSLH Emergency Pager at 608-263-3280.

 

Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) scientists in the Communicable Disease Division and the Newborn Screening Laboratory published articles in the latest supplement to Public Health Reports – Advancing the Public Health Laboratory System through Outreach and Partnerships.

The collection of articles written by state and federal scientists covers a range of topics including laboratory systems and training, global health, laboratory response and infectious diseases, food safety and outbreak response, and newborn screening.

WSLH-authored articles include:

Strengthening Public Health in Wisconsin Through the Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network
Allen C. Bateman, PhD, MPH, Erin J. Bowles, BS, Erik Munson, PhD, Raymond P. Podzorski, PhD, Eric T. Beck, PhD, Richard Dern, MS, Alana K. Sterkel, PhD, David M. Warshauer, PhD, Peter A. Shult, PhD

Newborn Screening for Inherited Metabolic Disorders: Early Identification and Long-Term Care for Patients in the Plain Community, Wisconsin, 2011-2017
Patrice K. Held, PhD , Gregory M. Rice, MD, Ashley Kuhl, CGC, Nicoletta Drilias, RD, Mei Baker, MD, James Deline, MD, Gretchen Spicer, BS, Claire Sandrock, BS, Christine M. Seroogy, MD, Jessica Scott Schwoerer, MD

Public Health Reports is the official journal of the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service. The journal is peer-reviewed and publishes original research, reviews, and commentaries related to public health practice and methodology, public health law, and teaching at schools and programs of public health.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene will be closed on Thursday, November 28, for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Our Specimen Receiving departments will observe the following hours of operation for the Thanksgiving holiday:

 

 

 

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) and the UW Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology are pleased to sponsor a talk by Jean Patel, PhD, D(ABMM) a highly respected expert in drug resistance.

Dr. Patel’s work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) implementing the Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network has greatly enhanced national capacity to monitor and detect antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Patel has chaired the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Subcommittee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing and works with the World Health Organization to strengthen global surveillance of antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Patel currently works in Principal Scientific Affairs, Microbiology at Beckman Coulter Diagnostics.

Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: A Treatment Forecast

Speaker: Jean Patel, PhD, D(ABMM), Principal Scientific Affairs, Microbiology at Beckman Coulter Diagnostics

Date/Time: Friday, November 22, 2019, from Noon-1 PM

Location: Room 1520, Microbial Sciences Building, 1550 Linden Drive

 

The WSLH Communicable Disease Division received the top score amongst laboratories vying for renewal of National Influenza Reference Center (NIRC) status and funding.

As top scorer, the WSLH will be the sole national influenza reference center in the summer, as well as one of three during influenza season.

One of the reviewers commented on the WSLH renewal proposal, “An exceptional application overall with key strengths across all categories, little to no weaknesses.”

NIRCs are funded by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), in cooperation with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Influenza Division (ID), to support national influenza surveillance initiatives. NIRCs serve as an extension of the CDC ID Virology Surveillance and Diagnosis Branch (VSDB) and provide services that are complementary to those at CDC based on methods and protocols provided by APHL and CDC. Services provided by the reference centers include: 1) influenza virus isolation and propagation; 2) antiviral resistance testing; and 3) genomic sequencing using next generation sequencing (NGS).

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel recently published an article about Dr. James DeLine’s work with Amish communities in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene Genetics and Newborn Screening departments were featured in a follow-up article from the University of Wisconsin-Madison on how UW-Madison and the Wisconsin Partnership Program are helping Dr. DeLine’s efforts.

UW-Madison article – 21st century medicine helps Amish deal with rare, inherited illnesses

As a member of the national Laboratory Response Network, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) scientists work closely with the Type I, II and III State Asset HazMat Teams and serve as a testing and support resource in situations involving unknown substances or credible threats.

In the Fall 2019 issue of WI Fire Chief, a publication of the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs’ Association, WSLH Chemical Emergency Response Program Supervisor Meshel Lange explains the importance of this years-long collaboration and its role in helping protect Wisconsinites.

HAZMAT PARTNERSHIPS – THE WISCONSIN STATE LABORATORY OF HYGIENE (Article linked with permission of the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs’ Association)

Starting 11/11/19, the WSLH Communicable Disease Division will discontinue performing rapidly growing mycobacteria susceptibility testing (test code MM00207).

Requests for rapid grower susceptibility testing will be sent out to National Jewish Health – https://www.nationaljewish.org/for-professionals/diagnostic-testing/adx/our-laboratories/mycobacteriology/ast-ntm-aerobic-actinomycetes

If you choose to have us forward an isolate to National Jewish for testing, you will be charged a $90.00 handling and shipping fee.

WSLH will continue to offer culture, PCR, and identification for all mycobacteria, as well as drug susceptibility testing for M. avium complex (MAC) and M. tuberculosis.

Please see attached memo for more information.

Excerpted from an October 10, 2019, message sent to Wisconsin healthcare providers by the Wisconsin Division of Public Health’s Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health

Since July 2019, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) and local health departments have been investigating an outbreak of lung injury associated with recent e-cigarette use, or vaping.

We encourage health care providers to remain alert for patients with possible vaping-associated lung injury. Please continue to report vaping-associated lung injury to your local health department so that we can investigate these cases and work to prevent future illnesses. If your hospital or lab has clinical specimens for patients with possible vaping-associated lung injury, including bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, lung tissue, blood, or urine, please encourage your clinical laboratory to send them to the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) for further testing.

We have updated our dedicated vaping-associated lung injury webpage with tools for health care and lab professionals. You will find:

• Clinical fact sheet for vaping-associated lung injury
• Instructions for reporting cases along with a case report form and patient questionnaire
• Instructions for submitting clinical specimens to WSLH

We thank you for your ongoing support and work in this outbreak. Please contact DHS at 608-266-1120 or visit our webpage (https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/outbreaks/vaping.htm) for additional information.