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/).

March 24th is World TB Day. The Association of Public Health Laboratories writes about the 2013 TB outbreak in Sheboygan, WI, and the response of the local, state and federal public health system – including the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene – to show how 1 case of TB can have far-reaching effects in a community and state. APHL Public Health LabLog post

The Wisconsin Association of Hazardous Materials Responders (WAHMR) gave the WSLH its Coordinators Service Award at its annual conference earlier this month. The award was given “in grateful appreciation for your many years of dedication and diligence to the response community of Wisconsin.”

WSLH Chemical Emergency Response Coordinator Noel Stanton and Assistant Coordinator Meshel Mork accepted the award on behalf of the WSLH.

WSLH staff in the Communicable Disease Division first began working with Wisconsin’s hazardous materials (HazMat) teams in the late 1990s. The focus those first few years was on training for responding to biological terrorism events.  Over time the focus switched to an all-hazards approach. Since HazMat teams, which are part of local fire departments, respond to unknown chemical emergencies more often than biological ones, WSLH support has evolved to focus more on unknown chemical incidents.

That support comes in a variety of ways:

• WSLH staff provide testing in our lab for the HazMat teams when needed. This can be for situations where the team has identified a threat or exposure risk, or when the team encounters an unknown substance they can’t identify with their field equipment and they need to know more.

• In order to assure we receive a valid sample for testing, WSLH staff provide collection material kits so HazMat teams have what they need in their mobile response units. The collection materials are suitable for biological as well as chemical agents.

• For HazMat teams with field testing capabilities, the WSLH serves as a resource when they’re in the field responding to an event. WSLH staff also have contacts that can provide a higher level of technical expertise, if needed.

• The WSLH provides a voluntary, no-cost unknown substance characterization program for HazMat teams – basically a proficiency testing program for HazMat. WSLH staff make samples and send them to the teams who characterize the samples based on their unit’s capabilities. After the team sends in their results, WSLH staff provide feedback.

The latest support effort is a ½ day training course for HazMat teams developed by former Chemical Emergency Response Assistant Coordinator (and now WisCon Industrial Hygiene Consultant) Al Spallato. HazMat teams will be instructed on how to properly assess a situation and receive hands-on experience collecting vapor, liquid and solid substances to submit to the WSLH for analysis. The course is being offered in collaboration with Wisconsin Emergency Management and two of the HazMat responder teams.  A pilot course was held right before the WAHMR conference and garnered very positive feedback from participants. The first official training session will be held in late February.

“The award was presented to the WSLH for years of service and Al has been instrumental in that,” said Stanton. “With Meshel taking over for Al, the HazMat teams will continue to receive a very high level of support from the WSLH.”