WisContext – an online multimedia news and information service of Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and UW Cooperative Extension – used excerpts from Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Forensic Toxicologist Lori Edward’s talk earlier this year to highlight “The Volatile Mix of Drugs at Work in the Opioid Crisis”.

Edward’s talk – “Heroin and Other Opioids: A Wisconsin Epidemic?” – in April 2017 was part of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wednesday Nite @ the Lab series. She covered the current issues and trends associated with heroin and other opioids in Wisconsin, including the history of the opium plant, manufacturing process, and the pharmacological effects of heroin and other opioids on the human body. In addition, case studies of individuals driving under the influence of heroin or other opioids were discussed.

Watch an archived webcast of her talk — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Ctvql69Dk

 

WisContext Series on “The Opioid Epidemic in Wisconsin”

WisContext is running a series of stories on opioid use in Wisconsin – http://www.wiscontext.org/opioid-epidemic-wisconsin

Series stories featuring the WSLH:

“New Synthetic Opioids Test Limits Of Wisconsin’s Drug Analysis” – http://www.wiscontext.org/new-synthetic-opioids-test-limits-wisconsins-drug-analysis

“To Identify Elusive Opioids, Labs Pursue More Sensitive Equipment” – http://www.wiscontext.org/identify-elusive-opioids-labs-pursue-more-sensitive-equipment

“Synthetic Opioids Have Public Health And Medical Investigators Playing Catch-Up” – https://www.wiscontext.org/synthetic-opioids-have-public-health-and-medical-investigators-playing-catch

“Wisconsin’s First Responders Take Steps To Avoid Opioid Exposure On The Job” – https://www.wiscontext.org/wisconsins-first-responders-take-steps-avoid-opioid-exposure-job

“The Toxicology Mysteries Posed By Synthetic Opioids” – https://www.wiscontext.org/toxicology-mysteries-posed-synthetic-opioids

“Occupational Risks To People Encountering Opioids On The Job” – https://www.wiscontext.org/occupational-risks-people-encountering-opioids-job

“The Volatile Mix of Drugs at Work in the Opioid Crisis” – https://www.wiscontext.org/volatile-mix-drugs-work-opioid-crisis

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene will be closed on Thursday, November 23, for the Thanksgiving holiday.

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

 

 

 

On Nov. 6^th, WSLH Communicable Disease Division Director Dr. Pete Shult gave a talk on “Responding to Emerging Infectious Disease Threats – The Role of the WSLH and its Laboratory Networks” as part of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Population Health Sciences Monday seminar series.

Shult’s talk focused on the role and capabilities of the WSLH in surveillance for, and response to, infectious disease threats of particular public health importance. He also discussed the roles of the mission-critical statewide clinical laboratory network that the WSLH coordinates and the national networks in which the WSLH participates and maintains a leadership role.

Video of talk –  http://videos.med.wisc.edu/videos/78899

The collaborative nature of public health was on display at the WSLH Newborn Screening Laboratory in October as Dr. Ellen Stevens from the North Carolina Public Health Laboratory (NCPHL) spent a week learning the next-generation sequencing assay the WSLH performs for cystic fibrosis (CF) screening.

Last year the vendor that produced the type of assay the North Carolina lab was using for CF screening testing decided to remove it from the market due to quality issues. NCPHL needed help quickly to continue CF screening and the WSLH stepped up since we use the next-generation sequencing method and weren’t affected. Dr. Stevens’ Wisconsin visit was to learn this testing method and reporting process to help NCPHL establish it in-house.

According to WSLH Newborn Screening Laboratory Co-Director Dr. Mei Baker, the Wisconsin and North Carolina newborn screening programs have worked together for many years.

“Our helping them this past year is just a continuation of our long-time collaboration,” Dr. Baker said.

“Mei and the WSLH staff have been amazing at helping us get going on next-gen sequencing for CF,” Dr. Stevens notes. “Public health is all about helping each other to help people.”

Dr. Stevens is the current APHL-Ronald H. Laessig Newborn Screening Fellow.

Dr. Laessig was WSLH Director from 1980–2006 and a national leader in newborn screening. After his death in 2009, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) created the fellowship in his honor.

WSLH Newborn Screening Laboratory Co-Director Dr. Patrice Held was the first Laessig fellow.

 

 

Scientists from NeoGen Labs in Bangalore, India, spent a week in September at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Newborn Screening Laboratory learning about Wisconsin’s testing and reporting processes.

NeoGen scientists Dr. Ruby Poickaranparambil Babu, consultant biochemist, and Aggunda Channa Poornima, senior manager for laboratory operations, came to Wisconsin to learn about validating test assays and determining result cutoffs, routine testing workflow, troubleshooting, quality control, and assay result interpretation and reporting.

“We hope to increase the scope of tests we offer in India and the Wisconsin newborn screening lab is the standard we want to compare ourselves to,” explains Dr. Babu. “The Wisconsin newborn screening lab is known internationally and we came to learn about processes we could implement in our lab to help us improve.”

NeoGen has been performing newborn screening in India for 10 years. Currently, the lab screens between 25,000 – 30,000 babies a year for 57 disorders.

The scientific information exchange was very productive according to Poornima.

“We’ve learned a lot and want to take back some of these best practices.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Communicable Disease Division Director Dr. Peter Shult gave a talk on emerging infectious diseases at the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s Emergency Preparedness Conference on Sept. 20^th.

In addition to discussing infectious disease threats, Dr. Shult also highlighted the vital role that Wisconsin’s clinical and hospital laboratories play in emergency response and disease surveillance. The WSLH coordinates the 130+ member Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network (WCLN).

Video of Dr. Shult’s talk — https://youtu.be/nsczEyUrpcU

The WisCon Onsite Safety and Health Consultation Program helps small businesses in Wisconsin provide safe and healthy workplaces for their employees. The OSHA-funded program is free for the business and WisCon assists about 300 businesses each year, influencing the working conditions of about 10,000 employees.

During fiscal year 2016, WisCon consultants identified and verified correction of more than 2,100 workplace safety and health hazards and performed more workplace exposure sampling than any other OSHA consultation program in the nation.

In this webinar WisCon Industrial Hygiene Supervisor Ernie Stracener explains how WisCon consultants – via the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene and University of Wisconsin-Madison – help small businesses and their employees throughout Wisconsin.

https://slhstream2.ad.slh.wisc.edu/Mediasite/Play/606c26d02c0b4a55a4daad5aee1c81d81d

On August 1 – 2, 2017, the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) hosted laboratorians and epidemiologists from five Midwest states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as program staff from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), for the first annual Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory Network (ARLN) Midwest Regional Meeting. The event was held at the Fluno Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

The ARLN is a national network of public health laboratories and epidemiologists that are working closely with CDC, other public health laboratories within their region, and clinical laboratories within their respective states to detect, control and prevent transmission of highly antibiotic resistant organisms, such as Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and those organisms with novel mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance.

The Midwest region of the ARLN includes Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene is the regional ARLN reference laboratory.

Since ARLN is a new network and states are at different stages of test implementation, it was decided for the first annual Midwest Regional ARLN Meeting to provide more time for discussion and collaboration among laboratorians and epidemiologists, rather than focus on hands-on laboratory training or demonstrations. Prior to the Midwest Regional Meeting, the WSLH hosted public health microbiologists from two states within the region and provided hands-on training and demonstrations of susceptibility and phenotypic testing.

Speakers and topics included:

Wisconsin

Scientists from the WSLH (David Warshauer, PhD, Erin Bowles and Mary Wedig) and epidemiologists from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services  (Megan Lasure, MPH, Rachel Klos, DVM, and Lina Elbadawi, MD):

• Provided an update on the ARLN program
• Demonstrated the online specimen information submission portal that has been developed
• Highlighted statewide (WI) and regional surveillance activities and information sharing with regional partners about the Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network (WCLN)

Ray Podzorski, PhD, with SSM Health-Madison, shared his view on the intersection of clinical and public health microbiology.

Erik Munson, PhD, with Marquette University, presented data on the antimicrobial resistance surveillance activities he is leading in Wisconsin.

Indiana

Sara Blosser, PhD, with the Indiana State Department of Health, discussed Indiana’s experience with statewide testing for and controlling Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

Illinois

Sarah Kemble, MD, with the Chicago Department of Health, reviewed an investigation of an outbreak of Verona Integron-encoded Metallo-beta-lactamase (VIM)-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa at a skilled nursing facility in Chicago, Illinois.

Future Activities

In the coming year, ARLN Laboratory Coordinator Ann Valley and ARLN Laboratory-based Epidemiologist Megan Lasure plan on performing site visits at each of the public health laboratories within the ARLN Midwest region to view and discuss with each state their ARLN program activities. The goal of the site visits is to not only ensure standardization of ARLN testing approaches in each state, but also learn about state-specific successes and share them with all laboratories in the region and CDC to further strengthen the regional and national ARLN network.

In addition, the WSLH will also begin quarterly conference calls with laboratorians and epidemiologists within the region to discuss progress with test implementation, surveillance activities and outreach strategies associated with the ARLN program.

ARLN activities at the WSLH will continue to expand with the addition of identification and detection of targeted Candida species – an emerging multi-drug resistant public health threat. The WSLH also will begin implementing Streptococcus pneumoniae serotyping and antibiotic resistance testing as one of two national S. pneumoniae ARLN reference centers.

The feedback the WSLH received from participants that attended the first Midwest region ARLN Meeting was overwhelmingly positive. The WSLH looks forward to hosting the next Midwest region ARLN meeting in summer 2018, with topics of discussion to be determined during regional conference calls and consultation with CDC ARLN program staff.

The first year of the ARLN network has been a great success in Wisconsin, the Midwest region and nationally. The WSLH looks forward to continued participation in this national network, especially working with the other partner laboratories and public health departments in the Midwest region and the clinical laboratories within the WCLN, in order to aid in the detection and prevention of antimicrobial resistance of public health significance.

For more information on the ARLN program visit:  https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/solutions-initiative/ar-lab-networks.html

Three WSLH staffers have been added to the Pringle Award Roll of Honor by University of Wisconsin-Madison University Staff Shared Governance.

Shannon Kelly in WSLH Proficiency Testing, Shauna Minick in Forensic Toxicology and Katy Penland in Newborn Screening were all nominated for the Elizabeth S. Pringle Award.

Ms. Pringle worked for retired UW-Madison Professor Joel Margolis. He made a generous donation to award a university staff office support employee in honor of his assistant Ms. Pringle.

The award winner was selected by members of the Congressional University Staff Awards Selection Committee and will be announced this fall.

Nominees who did not receive the award were added to the Roll of Honor in recognition of their exemplary work.

Congratulations Shannon, Shauna and Katy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Concerns about deaths occurring near manure storage and handling systems led University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin-Extension Cooperative Extension scientists to develop a publication about “Reducing Risks from Manure Storage Agitation Gases.”

The authors led by UW Biological Systems Engineering Assistant Professor Rebecca Larson and including Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene Director and UW Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Jamie Schauer, note:

The publication can be found on the UW-Extension Learning Store website at https://learningstore.uwex.edu/Reducing-Risks-from-Manure-Storage-Agitation-Gases-P1865.aspx