How has COVID-19 created challenges for pediatric lead testing?
by Ariana La Grenade-Finch, intern, Environmental Health, APHL COVID-19 has remained top news for several months and has altered lives in many ways. One of…
Environmental Health
New Lab Matters: Biosurveillance and the opioid epidemic
The opioid crisis remains a public health emergency in the United States, with more than 67,000 drug overdose deaths in 2018. Forensic and crime laboratories…
APHL EVALI response spurred by strong communication
Whether it be a disease outbreak, a natural disaster or a devastating lung condition, regular, responsive communication drives response to public health emergencies. In the…
CDC findings mark a breakthrough in investigation of lung injury associated with vaping
Statement from Scott J. Becker, executive director, Association of Public Health Laboratories Silver Spring, MD, November 8, 2019 — “Test results announced today by the…
Lab Culture Ep. 20: 20 Years of the Laboratory Response Network
This year marks 20 years since the inception of the Laboratory Response Network (LRN). Founded by APHL, CDC and the FBI, the LRN exists to…
Lab Culture Ep. 19: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha- Storytelling and the Flint Water Crisis
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, author of What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, joins us for an…
Lab Culture Extra: How the Wisconsin state lab developed a test for brodifacoum and why it matters
In the spring of 2018 patients suffering from profuse bleeding swamped emergency rooms in Illinois and Wisconsin. The cause? Synthetic cannabinoids laced with rat poison…
Four Corners States Biomonitoring Collaborative: Leveraging lab capacity toward regional health concerns
By Kim Krisberg 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid—otherwise known as 2,4-D—is the active ingredient in a variety of weed killers and one of the most common, widely used…
What you need to know about harmful algal blooms
By Julianne Murphy, intern, Environmental Health Warm weather brings nature walks, picnics and sunny days by the shore, but it can also bring unwanted changes to…
Rhode Island laboratory responds to toxic algae bloom, safeguarding health and the local economy
by Kim Krisberg Every week, the Rhode Island State Health Laboratory tests water from Narragansett Bay, monitoring the estuary for harmful toxin producing plankton that…