Association of Public Health Laboratories - APHL Public Health LabLog

Archive for the 'General' category

On World AIDS Day, Do Your Part: Get Tested!

Nov 30 2012 :: Published in General, Infectious Diseases

Since the first case of what came to be known as “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome” (AIDS) was reported in 1981, the disease has spread across the world in a pandemic that has killed 30 million people and infected 34 million more. World AIDS Day recognizes the strides made in the fight against the HIV virus, and the work still to be done to address gaps in access to testing, treatment and care.

Here in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 1,000,000 people are living with HIV, with approximately 50,000 more added each year. Sadly, over one-quarter (26%) of the new infections are in young people between the ages of 13 and 24. Most of these adolescents and young adults (60%) are not aware of their infection status, according to CDC’s recent Vital Signs report.

What can you do to curb the pandemic, and also protect yourself and those you love? Get tested! CDC recommends that everyone should be screened who does not know his or her HIV status.

Yes, it’s daunting to confront disease of any type, much less AIDS, but knowledge is your best protection. Early treatment of HIV infection prolongs life and prevents transmission, and for the vast majority who are not infected, testing brings peace of mind.

What’s more, it’s never been easier to get tested. Clinics offer rapid tests that provide preliminary results on-site. Over-the-counter tests, approved by the Federal Drug Administration in July, are now available at pharmacies for at-home testing. To ensure the accuracy of these tests, initial positive results are confirmed at public health, clinical and commercial laboratories.

Do you know your HIV status? If not, do your part on this World AIDS Day, and get tested. You can find the closest testing center by entering your zip code at CDC’s testing resources site.

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DIY Laboratories: Do NOT Try This At Home

Nov 27 2012 :: Published in General

By: Michael Heintz, Senior Specialist, Environmental Laboratories

There seems to be a rise in at-home, or do-it-yourself (DIY), scientists. These people possess varying levels of scientific training and experience, ranging from a single chemistry course in high school to professional scientists (and others in between), who decide to take on complicated scientific research at home. Their goals differ widely: some look to discover the next great medicine, some research energy sources, and others are just curious. They all have one trait in common: conducting scientific experiments in their kitchens, basements, or garages. Under almost any consideration, this is a bad idea.

To be clear, these are not cornstarch experiments you did as a kid. Nor are we talking about the multitude of less dangerous experiments you can conduct at home in the name of scientific curiosity. Some of these DIY scientists conduct dangerous experiments, like attempting to split the atom in a microwave or synthesizing biological material for a possible vaccine. People are conducting complex experiments needing specialized chemicals, controls, and safeguards in facilities with the “sophistication” of your mother’s spare bedroom.

Just because you can buy them on the internet does not mean your house is the appropriate place to store radioactive, biological, or hazardous materials. The situation becomes even more complicated during disposal: what happens to the material flushed down a drain or put out with the municipal trash collection? Non-DIY laboratories adhere to strict regulations, which exist to protect the safety of the scientist and the community.

More and more state and federal officials are investigating the use and manipulation of hazardous materials in DIY laboratories. Most states make using or storing these kinds of materials in a residential setting illegal. Given the rise of residential scientists, agencies like the Centers for Disease Control conduct programs to register or monitor for amateur laboratories, and the National Institutes of Health issued a report on biological research by amateur scientists.

In some instances, these efforts bring DIY efforts into the mainstream as a new market: community laboratory space for experimentation in a more controlled environment. Health and environment research remains complicated, detailed, and includes some level of risk to the scientist and those nearby. Scientific research should be conducted in the appropriate environments. Blowing up the block does not make for good neighborhood relations.

If you are interested in becoming a laboratory scientist, it is a field that is constantly growing and those with proper qualifications are always in demand. Until then, leave the complex experiments and research to the pros.

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APHL Says THANK YOU!

Nov 19 2012 :: Published in General

APHL joins Research!America and our many other public health partners in saying THANK YOU on this Public Health Thank You Day! Below are a few of the things that APHL staff are thankful for this year. What are you thankful for?

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I am thankful that, even if the face of budget and programmatic pressures, the staff at public health laboratories still go to work each day and provide services that improve the public’s health and are not delivered by any other means. – Peter Kyriacopoulos, Senior Director of Public Policy

I am thankful for having the opportunity to move to Maryland from Rhode Island and be blessed with a new career in public health. – Natalya Rocha, Associate Specialist, Contracts

I am thankful for EMTs and ER nurses. – Ben Moyer, Specialist, Marketing

I am thankful that the Affordable Care Act is moving forward toward full implementation following the re-election of President Obama. Yes, there will be challenges in rolling out the program, but once it’s in place, we will have a more equitable and effective health care system and a healthier nation. This certainly merits an extra piece of pumpkin pie with real whip cream. – Jody DeVoll, Director of Strategic Communications

I’m thankful for the dedicated, passionate, intelligent people committed to making our world a better place through choosing a career in public health. – Megan Latshaw, Director of Environmental Health Programs

I’m thankful to have recently learned that CDC is working closely with key food industry representatives to improve the safety of our food supply. Developing such partnerships has been avoided by both sides in the past. Only good things can come from such discussions. – Shari Shea, Director of Food Safety

I’m thankful that federal funding of the National Institutes of Health has made it possible for my daughter to beat the odds and survive a rare disease. – Lisa Kingsley, Controller

I am thankful for vaccines! Such a simple step that saves millions of lives. – Kara MacKeil, Senior Technician, Public Health Preparedness and Response

I am thankful for the health of my family, the giggles, smiles and laughs of my daughters, energetic and creative colleagues, the best members in any association, and time off to contemplate how lucky and thankful I am. – Scott Becker, APHL Executive Director

Having a family member with a chronic illness, I am especially thankful for the passing of the Affordable Care Act, knowing that he can no longer be denied coverage for having a “pre-existing condition.” Healthcare is a necessity and I am grateful to be working in a field that understands and promotes this. – Hayley Radin, Associate Specialist, Course Logistics

I am thankful for all of those working to promote the health of the public. We don’t often see what they do to keep us safe and healthy. Thank you! – Pat Dostert, Manager, Continuing Education and Training

I am thankful that hurricane Sandy did not wipe out my beach house in Delaware. Just a few miles up the coast there is devastation. I am thankful for the help the people there are giving each other and receiving from federal agencies and volunteers. – Jane Getchell, Senior Director, Public Health Programs

I am thankful for all the epidemiologists that work to track outbreaks to their source; without them we would not know where illnesses and deaths come from or be able to better understand and work to preserve health in the future. – Caprice Retterer, Associate Specialist, Communications

I’m thankful for vaccines because they are arguably the greatest public health intervention. – Chris Chadwick, Specialist, Public Health Preparedness and Response

I am thankful for the possibility of early and accurate disease detection. I grew up in a developing country and spent most of my adult life there as well. Each time I call back home I get updates of people I knew that have passed on due to various illnesses. In most of the cases, it is due to illnesses that if detected early could have been prevented with proper diagnosis. Part of the problem exists also due to the lack of information and education within the small communities, lack of income to support the costs related with getting the right attention as well as lack of easily accessible and adequate public health services. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to be in this country and have access to a great public health system! – Esther Gathinji, Specialist, Global Health

I am thankful for the unbelievably talented and generous Public Health Community that work so hard to protect this nation with little recognition and even less funding. – Patina Zarcone-Gagne, Director, Informatics and Institutional Research

I am thankful that my baby received newborn screening and potentially life-saving vaccinations. – Elizabeth Jones, Senior Specialist, Newborn Screening and Genetics

I’m thankful for clean drinking water. – Michelle Forman, Senior Specialist, Media

This year I celebrated 10 years with APHL! It seems like a long time, especially in the Washington, DC metro area where my peers have changed jobs multiple times. As I reflect on the past 10 years, I’m thankful for the following: Excellent working relationships across the globe – many of which have become personal friendships; Broad and ever growing knowledge of public health laboratories and the important role they play in protecting the public’s health; And a greater sense of appreciation for public health – to have sound public health practices and policies is the greatest indicator of a country’s investment in its population. Thank you to all of the wonderful people across the globe who work to protect their nations from terrorism, natural disasters, emerging infectious diseases and other threats. These hard working public health experts ensure their countries have clean water, clean air, safe food and healthy people (think newborn screening and vaccinations)! – Chris Mangal, Director of Public Health Preparedness and Response

I’m thankful for all the dedicated Public health laboratory staff who work behind the scenes in keeping the public safe and healthy! – Karen Breckenridge, Director of Quality Systems

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Life Outside of the Lab

Nov 08 2012 :: Published in General, Member News

Scientists have serious jobs — we don’t have to tell you that, though. What do you do to unwind at the end of the day? On the weekends when you’re not investigating the latest outbreak? We want to know more about you. Show us the easygoing side of scientists!

Send us a fun photo and clever caption of your life outside of work (e.g., your latest vacation, playing with your pets, or enjoying your favorite hobby). Photos will be featured in the digital edition of Lab Matters Magazine in a new section highlighting public health laboratorians!

To be considered for the upcoming Fall Issue, submit your photo/caption to this address, by Tuesday, November 13^th. Submissions after that date will be considered for future issues. Please include your name, job title and affiliation in the email along with the photo and caption.

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Presenting APHL’s New Animated Video!

Oct 31 2012 :: Published in General

What is a public health laboratory? Hopefully this will help answer that question. If you cannot see the video below, click here.

Thanks to Digital Bard for their hard work on this video!

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Nothing New: Sequestration Poses Serious Risk to Public Health

Oct 23 2012 :: Published in General, Public Policy

By Peter Kyriacopoulos, Senior Director of Public Policy, APHL

Congress’ frustration over its inability to effectively manage federal spending and the impact of that spending on the deficit is nothing new. The concept of imposing an automatic across-the-board spending cut once spending exceeded specific caps is nothing new. Designing this sequestration or automatic cut mechanism in such a way to encourage Congress to make appropriate decisions by providing an option that was deemed to be so objectionable that Congress would never let it occur is nothing new. Sequestration was part of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 – 26 years before the enactment of the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011. That law was primarily the product of three U.S. Senators: Phil Gramm, Warren Rudman and Ernest Hollings and is often referred to as Gramm-Rudman-Hollings.

In its most recent guise, as a condition for increasing the federal debt ceiling in 2011, Congress and the President agreed on the mechanics of the BCA which resurrected the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings concepts of spending caps and automatic cuts. The approaching January 2, 2013 deadline is generating considerable interest in the automatic cuts that begin on that date. One thing new included in the BCA is the creation of a special Congressional committee that was directed to produce legislation that would further reduce the federal debt by $1.2 trillion, or automatic cuts of the same amount would occur.

The BCA automatic cuts were designed to be so punitive and unacceptable that Congress would take definitive action to prevent them from ever happening – nothing new. The special Congressional committee was not able to reach agreement and produce an alternative proposal which has led to the likely imposition of the automatic cuts on January 2.

Because of this increased interest in the automatic cuts, most have forgotten the almost $1 trillion in federal spending reductions between 2012 and 2022 that are already being implemented through the spending caps included in the BCA. These caps reduced federal spending $62 billion in fiscal year 2013 and have created downward spending pressure on all federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which supports the state and local governmental public health laboratories.

Beyond the current impact of the caps, the automatic cuts in federal spending will cause spending in fiscal year 2013 to be reduced by an additional $110 billion. These automatic cuts, will cause a $31 billion cut in domestic programs – like those operated by CDC – in fiscal year 2013 starting on January 2. There are many numbers being used to measure the size of this spending reduction, and it is not unreasonable to presume they will amount to a 10% reduction.

A reduction of this size in CDC’s funding for the governmental public health laboratory system will hit direct support for the system through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) program and through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement; combined, these programs provide in excess of $100 million annually in direct laboratory support and a reduction on the order of $10 million will dramatically reduce the surveillance and detection capability of the laboratory system. This is before determining the amount of indirect spending by CDC on behalf of the laboratory system, which will likely be very similar.

A possible silver lining could be the timing of the PHEP and ELC grant awards, as both awards are scheduled for release later in the 2013 calendar year – conceivably giving Congress sufficient time to produce an alternative that stops the automatic cuts.

The ELC and PHEP grants are not the sole source of CDC’s direct and indirect work with the governmental public health laboratory system which includes collaborative work on newborn screening, environmental health, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. All of this work improves the public’s health and leads to better individual health outcomes and reduced health care expenditures by both public sector and private sector payers. It is unconscionable that the activities of CDC and its state and local governmental health laboratory partners is put being put at risk while Congress attempts to craft a solution to the size of the federal deficit. It is also reminiscent of another piece of history involving fiddles and Rome – nothing new.

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Join us at the 2012 APHL Annual Meeting from Wherever You Are on May 20-23

May 16 2012 :: Published in General

During the APHL Annual Meeting, May 20-23, our blog will be your center for session recaps, commentary, attendee profiles, photos, video and a daily Twitter summary. Whether you are on-site in Seattle or back at your office or laboratory in Boston, Tampa or Santa Fe, you can join us at the annual meeting.

Look for regular postings on our Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Vimeo sites. Please feel free to leave comments or questions on any of those sites!

If you will be at the annual meeting and if social media is not your forte, APHL is here to help. APHL Communications staff will provide pointers on using social media at the APHL booth (located adjacent to the APHL registration desk) from 12:30 – 4:30 pm on Monday, May 21. We look forward to chatting with you there.

Those of you who aren’t packing your bags for Seattle can follow the meeting in real time on Twitter even if you don’t have a Twitter account. Simply search on Twitter for the annual meeting hashtag, #APHL.

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Five Reasons You Should Hug a Laboratorian

Apr 24 2012 :: Published in General

This week is National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week and National Environmental Laboratory Professionals Week. APHL is honoring the many individuals working public health and environmental laboratories around the world. Stay tuned for blog posts this week featuring the work of many of those unsung heroes working to protect the public’s health.

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By Kara MacKeil, Senior Technician, Public Health Preparedness and Response Program, APHL

Did you know it is National Medical Laboratory Professional’s Week? Sounds very official and impressive, but what exactly does this mean and why should you care? What do the 300,000 medical laboratorians do to impact your life? Why should YOU hug a medical laboratorian? Let’s find out!

So what is a medical laboratory and how are they different from public health laboratories? While most public health laboratories do perform clinical tests, they’re chiefly concerned with public health as a whole rather than the diagnosis and treatment of an individual. Medical laboratories focus on the individual, but they still have a role to play in public health as they report certain critical findings to state and federal health authorities. Many are also members of the Laboratory Response Network, a network of labs that respond to public health emergencies. But overall public health isn’t the primary focus of medical laboratories, as they exist mainly to assist clinicians in making diagnosis’s for specific patients.

Before moving to the DC area, I worked in a medium-sized doctor’s office in Vermont. We were lucky enough to have a small in-house medical lab staffed with dedicated laboratorians to take care of the frequently requested tests. Those laboratorians were a big part of patient care and the clinicians consulted with them several times a day.

To paraphrase the campaign, Laboratory Professionals Get Results. Your doctor made their best guess. But it’s a medical laboratorian that can tell the difference between bacterial vaginosis and venerial diseaseor say “I’m sorry, but it’s definitely giardia.” The news they bear is vital to accurate treatment. So with this in mind, here are five reasons you should hug a medical laboratorian:

1 – Laboratory work helps doctors fine-tune. Before moving to the DC area, I worked in a medium-sized doctor’s office in Vermont. We were lucky enough to have a small in-house lab staffed with dedicated laboratorians to take care of the frequently requested tests. I still carry the vivid memory of a certain patient’s lipid test that was so bad, the shocked lab technician marched the blood tube over herself to show the patient’s doctor. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but the patient’s cholesterol was so high that after the blood had been centrifuged the normally yellowish-clear plasma was milky. This is not what you want your blood to look like! Thanks to the lab test, the patient’s doctor knew exactly how bad things were and could devise a much more effective treatment plan. Cholesterol isn’t the only thing that medical laboratorians can help monitor. Standard blood panels often include tests that screen for diabetes and thyroid disease, monitor your kidney and liver functions, and check the levels of essentials like vitamin D.

2 – They can save you from unnecessary shots. It’s easy to remember which ankle you broke, or how often you get migraines, but do you remember how many hepatitis-B vaccinations you’ve received? What about your kids? Schools and employers need to know, and if you’re new to the country so does the government. Imagine, if you will, a patient with no vaccination records who knows they’ve had some shots but has no idea what they were. Maybe they moved, maybe the records are lost, or possibly they’re a refugee from another country. Sadly, this was a frequent situation in the office where I worked, but how do you address it? There is the option of redoing the schedule, but even after eliminating the childhood diseases that adults generally don’t need protection from, this would take at least a year. Who can save the day? That’s right, medical laboratorians! With a small blood sample a medical laboratorian can test a patient for immunity to almost any disease you’d care to know about, thereby laying out in clinical detail what shots that patient does and doesn’t need. This saves money for both patient and doctor, and prevents patients from getting unneeded injections.

3 - They can be the deciding voice in diagnosis. Think about the reasons for your last trip to the doctor’s office. Maybe you were having some sudden “digestive distress.” Maybe you were worried about a strange rash, or perhaps you wanted to know if that sore throat was actually strep. For all of these complaints and many more, your doctor probably took a look, made a preliminary diagnosis, and sent it to a laboratory for analysis. There are quite a few medical symptoms that can be caused by very different illnesses, and often the true cause (and correct treatment) can only be determined by the lab. For example: it’s not uncommon for certain types of allergic skin reactions to appear very similar to certain fungal infections, but the treatment that will clear the allergic rash actually feeds that fungus and makes it grow (gross). Lab tests can determine which is which without a trial-and-error treatment.

4 – They protect babies! Even though we’ve known about the dangers of lead poisoning for years, lead contamination is still a very real problem that is especially dangerous for babies and young children. Old homes that still have their original lead-based paint and contaminated toys or food can lead to dangerously high lead levels in infants. Luckily, most states have routine testing programs to monitor infant lead levels. At the office where I worked, almost every baby on the patient rolls received lead testing at regularly scheduled points in their development. We’d gather a tiny sample during a regular office visit and send it off to the state public health laboratory for testing. While your baby probably won’t take kindly to it, a small blood sample (I promise, it really is a VERY small amount) lets a medical laboratorian see whether your baby is at risk, letting you take action as soon as possible.

5 – They protect public health, not just individual patients – Though short, a summer in Vermont is always memorable. The shady green of the hiking trails, the gorgeous sunsets over Lake Champlain, the seasonal giardia…wait, what? You read that right, seasonal giardia. Like pretty much every other doctor’s office in the country, as soon as it got warm enough to swim we stocked up on the fecal-testing kits. Lakefront or ocean, public beaches area easily contaminated, and for the healthcare world the start of summer is often heralded by a fresh wave (sorry) of diarrheal disease. Thanks to the efforts of medical laboratorians, doctors can confirm just what parasite or microbe is causing this distress and report up the chain to their state or local health department, creating a more vivid picture of the problem that allows for a more accurate response. Different problems call for different actions, so without the medical laboratorians, prevention would take longer.

There you have it! Medical laboratorians can make a big impact on your health and your family’s health, whether they work in a small lab right in your doctor’s office or they’re testing your samples at the state public health laboratory.

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All in a Day’s Work

Apr 23 2012 :: Published in General

This week is National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week and APHL is honoring the many individuals working public health and environmental laboratories around the world. Stay tuned for blog posts this week featuring the work of many of those unsung heroes working to protect the public’s health.

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By Chris N. Mangal, MPH, Director, Public Health Preparedness and Response, APHL

For a few days I pondered what to say in this blog post that would help folks to have a better appreciation of laboratorians… Why should people care about laboratorians? After all, they only get results.

Yes, that’s it! Laboratorians get results which play a key role in medical treatments and overall population health.

Think about it – when you feel sick, you go to your doctor’s office or your local hospital depending on the intensity of the symptoms. The physicians do their best to temporarily treat your symptoms and they quickly get some samples from you. Off they go… ever wondered where your samples went? Probably to the in-house hospital laboratory or a local commercial laboratory. These laboratories then work closely with public health laboratories so they can quickly identify what’s making you sick. Is it a chemical? Other toxic compounds? A super bug which is resistant to antibiotics? In certain instances, other public health officials get involved to monitor the extent of the illness in a population. Just think, all of this started with a laboratory result!

Much of this work is happening behind the scenes to get you the correct and best medical treatment and to reduce the spread of diseases in a population.

Laboratorians aren’t the best at tooting their own horn so organizations like APHL must play a role in promoting their valuable work. On a daily basis, APHL staff work side-by-side with laboratorians to protect global health.

Laboratorians from across the globe ensure that your water is safe to drink, your food is safe to eat, your sunscreen actually works and provides appropriate protection from the sun (more about this at a later date) and they’re also there when you get ill to quickly detect the culprit and inform your treatment. So, the next time someone takes a sample from you, remember the thousands of highly qualified laboratorians who are quietly working behind the scenes doing their routine – all in a day’s work – to keep you safe and healthy!

Thank you to all of the exceptional people who work in or on behalf of laboratories.

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What We’re Reading — National Public Health Week

Apr 06 2012 :: Published in General, What We're Reading

In case you missed it, this week has been National Public Health Week – a time to celebrate those who work to keep us safe and healthy every day. While a lot happened this week, I want to re-share the wonderful blog posts written by APHL staff. The posts are written by staff who could easily do their jobs for any type of organization or company yet they found themselves in public health and are glad they did. Thanks to LaToya, Pan, Scott, Jody and Ben for sharing your stories — everyone at APHL is glad you chose public health too!

Taking the Leap by LaToya Norman, Public Health Communications Intern, APHL
Serendipity and Unsung Heroes by Pandora Ray, Director of the National Center for Public Health Laboratory Leadership, APHL
At Home in Public Health by Scott J. Becker, Executive Director, APHL
My Circuitous Path to Public Health by Jody DeVoll, Director of Strategic Communications, APHL
How I Found Myself Public Health by Ben Moyer, Associate Specialist of Marketing, APHL

And thanks to all those who work in public health. Your work is extremely important and deeply valuable. You don’t hear it enough — THANK YOU!