Two Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) scientists – Erin Bowles MT (ASCP) and Dr. Dave Warshauer, PhD, D(ABMM) – were honored at the recent Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) annual meeting in Providence, RI.

Bowles, the Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network (WCLN) coordinator and co-biosafety officer at the WSLH, received the Emerging Leader Award. This award honors an individual whose leadership has been instrumental in one or more advances in laboratory science, practice, management, policy or education within his or her first five to ten years in the public health laboratory profession.

Bowles serves on APHL’s Sentinel Laboratories Training Collective Workgroup and the Sentinel Laboratories Partnership and Outreach Subcommittee. Sentinel laboratories are hospital and clinical laboratories that oftentimes are the first to recognize unusual infections or outbreaks and can alert public health officials. Bowles has been a leader in the development of national sentinel laboratory and biosafety guidelines.

The WSLH is a national leader for our work in building and maintaining collaborative networks with Wisconsin’s 130+ hospital and clinical sentinel laboratories.

Warshauer, deputy director of the WSLH Communicable Disease Division, received the Silver Award, which honors a laboratorian with roughly 10 to 15 years of service in a governmental public health laboratory who is recognized as a leader both within their home laboratory as well as external to their laboratory.

Warshauer is an active member of APHL’s infectious disease committee, biosafety and biosecurity committee, chairman of the tuberculosis (TB) subcommittee, and a frequent collaborator with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists. He also has served on CDC workgroups to develop recommendations and guidelines for the use of laboratory tests to aid in the diagnosis of TB.

Both Bowles and Warshauer worked in hospital and clinical laboratories in Wisconsin before joining the WSLH.

Starting in July 2017, Wisconsin will begin screening for Pompe disease as part of a federally funded newborn screening pilot program.

The pilot is an outcome of a 2013 recommendation by the national Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in the Newborn and Child (ACHDNC) that Pompe screening be added to state newborn screening panels. As part of the implementation process, it was recommended that pilot studies be undertaken to understand the challenges to implementing this recommendation.

Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene scientists, in conjunction with several pediatric metabolic physician specialists in the state, will be conducting Wisconsin’s Pompe newborn screening trial. The pilot is expected to last one year.

Pompe is a genetically inherited lysosomal storage disease. Children with Pompe have difficulty breaking down glycogen due to a defective alpha-glucosidase (GAA) enzyme; glycogen builds up in cells, particularly muscle cells, leading to poor muscle function. Pompe is a rare disorder, affecting about one in every 10,000-40,000 newborns. The severity of the disease can vary widely, but some affected infants will die in the first year of life if not treated. This is called the “classic infantile” form. In the “late onset” form of the disease, individuals may not become ill until later in childhood, or not until they are adults.

More information on the Pompe pilot

In observance of the holiday, the WSLH will be closed on Tuesday, July 4th. We will NOT be receiving specimens on July 4th.

The WSLH will be open on Monday, July 3rd and Wednesday, July 5th. Specimen Receiving Department hours are listed below.

As always, if there is an emergency, please call the WSLH Emergency Answering Service at 608-263-3280.

 

 

In 2015 and 2016, the bacteria Elizabethkingia anopheles caused an outbreak in Wisconsin that is still unsolved. But an international scientific collaboration to examine the bacteria’s genomic history gives an answer to one part of the mystery – the 63 people sickened in Wisconsin were all exposed to the same novel strain of bacteria.

Testing performed by Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene scientists as part of the initial outbreak investigation laid the groundwork for the international genomic study, findings of which were published in Nature –https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15483.

Other news coverage of the findings:

WisContext – “Genetic Lessons Of Wisconsin’s Elizabethkingia Outbreak” https://www.wiscontext.org/genetic-lessons-wisconsins-elizabethkingia-outbreak

The Atlantic – “How a Usually Harmless Bacteria Ended Up Killing 18 People in Wisconsin” https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/elizabethkingia-anophelis-wisconsin/528081/

The WSLH Communicable Disease Division (CDD) hosted four visiting scientists from Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of an international influenza mentorship program to provide technical assistance to countries to strengthen laboratory management systems and capacity, and enhance Biosafety and Quality Assurance programs using a step-wise approach.

The program is also intended to foster technical partnerships for ongoing guidance toward World Health Organization (WHO) National Influenza Center (NIC) designation.

The international influenza training that we provided was in support of an Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL)/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) project to strengthen laboratory capacity in certain countries that they identified as needing extra guidance and support.

The two labs from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Public Health Institute in Banja Luka and the University Clinical Center in Sarajevo) hope to achieve designation by the WHO as a National Influenza Center in the future.

CDD scientists provided hands-on bench training for cell culture and influenza virus isolation. In addition, we engaged other WSLH subject matter experts to discuss quality assurance, biosafety, management structure, inventory management and influenza real-time PCR.

The WSLH Chemical Emergency Response (CER) Unit participated in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exercise over the course of two weeks in late April and early May. The WSLH is one of only 10 Level 1 chemical emergency response labs in the country and serves a surge capacity lab for CDC.

The exercise scenario was the release of a toxin into a convention center.  In the scenario, more than 5,000 people were potentially exposed.

The WSLH initially received 40 samples to test for nitrogen mustards (a class of vesicant). The scenario called for 24 hour turnaround, and we finished within 8 hours of sample receipt. This particular testing came only to the WSLH as we were filling a gap for CDC.

The next week the WSLH received 500 samples to test for a metabolite of the nerve agent VX. Though we encountered some analytical problems, testing was completed in 42 hours.

The CER group performed exceptionally, particularly given the challenges of this particular exercise. About 2/3 of the samples were quantified for the VX metabolite.

Rotating Equipment Repair, Inc., (RER) provides repairs, parts and field service to the high-end energy pump market. Located in Sussex, Wis., RER received their fifth SHARP recertification from OSHA and the WSLH Onsite Safety and Health Consultation Program (WisCon).

RER first received SHARP status in 2009. Their current re-certification lasts until May 8, 2020.

SHARP stands for Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program and is a recognition program for companies who have excellent health and safety program management systems in place.

 

HPV has been around since people have been having people. A mummy with a large abdominal mass was found to be positive for HPV 16. We also know that HPV 16 has played an important role for the current standards of stem cells and cancer research because of the HeLa cell line and Henrietta Lacks. Because of all of this work, we also now have a cancer vaccine.

Cervical cancer screening is by far the most successful cancer screening test available. HPV is the virus that causes not only cervical cancer, but other urogenital cancers and head and neck cancers.

Cervical cancer has decreased in the US due to a screening program that first suggested annual screening, but has now changed to a variety of intervals based on age and clinical history. However, cervical cancer remains a leading cause of death for women in developing countries.

While cervical cancer may have declined in the US due to our screening guidelines, we are seeing an increase in HPV related cancers in men.

WSLH Cytology Manager and Cytotechnology Certificate Program Manager Michele Smith gave a brown bag talk on HPV. You can see it here (works best in Internet Explorer): https://slhstream2.ad.slh.wisc.edu/Mediasite/Play/7bcf6cb4069b47edae772bd6b8039bf11d

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The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Specimen Receiving Departments will be open for deliveries on Saturday, May 27, as usual.

In observance of the Memorial Day holiday, the WSLH will be closed on Monday, May 29. Please see hours of operation by location below.

As always, if there is an emergency, please call the WSLH Emergency Answering Service at 608-263-3280.

 

 

Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Forensic Toxicologist Lori Edwards gave a UW Wednesday Nite @ the Lab talk on April 19^th on the topic of “Heroin and Other Opioids: A Wisconsin Epidemic?”.

Her presentation 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 — http://www.biotech.wisc.edu/webcams?lecture=20170419_1900

 

WisContext Series on “The Opioid Epidemic in Wisconsin”

WisContext, an online multimedia news and information service of Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and UW Cooperative Extension, is running a series of stories on opioid use in Wisconsin.

Two of the stories feature interviews with WSLH Forensic Toxicology Director Amy Miles.

Opioid series website – http://www.wiscontext.org/opioid-epidemic-wisconsin

Stories featuring 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