MembersinstrumentalinH1N1testing
Story and photos
H
By DEBORAH A. MILES
E
Theswineflumadefront-pagenews
inmid-April,astheH1N1virusthat
HANDSON—PEFmember
A
beganinMexicoandquicklycircledthe
AndreasKilmartin,alab
L
globehadbeendetectedinnearlythree
specialist, inoculates
T
dozencountries.
culturesatGriffinLaboratory.
H
PEFmembersatWadsworthCenter’s
GriffinLaboratoryinSlingerlandswere
&
amongthefirsttobeapprovedfor
independenttestingoftheH1N1virus S
bythefederalCentersforDisease
A
ControlandPrevention.
“Thiswasabrandnewtestforour
F
stafftoimplement,”saidPEFmember
E
KirstenSt.George,chief
T
oftheLaboratoryofViral
Y
Diseasesatthestate
HealthDepartment.
“Tomakeit
operational,wehadto
trainstaffandwritenew
software.Itwasahuge
undertaking.”
WadsworthCentertestssamples theWadsworthLaboratories,which
Thelabseesabout50
fromLongIslandtoBuffalo,withthe includesfourfacilitiesintheCapital
samplesaday,unlikethe
exceptionofNewYorkCitywhichhasits Region,studypublichealthissues,from
avalancheofsamples
ST.GEORGE
owntestingfacility.ByMay13,New drugresistancetoemerginginfections
someotherstateshave
YorkstateexcludingNewYorkCityhad andenvironmentalexposures.
experienced.InNewYork,
47confirmedcasesattheGriffinLab. Griffinusesexclusivelymolecular
localhealthdepartmentshavestrict
Thenumberoflaboratory-confirmed testingmethodsforthevirusesthat
screeningcriteriabeforeallowing
caseshadrisento3,009nationwideand causeencephalitisorbrain
samplestobesenttoWadsworth.
causedthreedeaths. inflammation.PEFmembersalsowork
OncetheygettoWadsworth,the
Thefluseasontypicallyendsatthe inanotherlabwithdiversetesting
highlyserioustestingbegins.
endofMay,accordingtoSt.George. methodsfordifferentdiseasesand
“We’llhavetoseeiftheswineflu respiratoryillness.
Diverse tests
understandsthat,”shesaid.“Typically, Fuschinosaidsheisproudtobea
PEFmemberMeghanFuschino,a
duringsummerwetendtodetect partofastaffthatworksasateam.
researchscientist,saidittakesabout
influenzaintravelerscominginfromthe “Everyoneisdoingagreatjob,”she
eighthourstodiscoverifasampleis
SouthernHemisphereorfromthe said.”Weareheretorespondtopublic
positiveornegative.Thesamplegoes
tropics.Wedon’tknowhowtheswine healththreatsandarededicatedin
throughaslewoftests,andeverything
fluwillbehave.” whatwedo.”
ischeckedbytwoscientists.
“Weareextremelycarefultovalidate
Dedicated staff
anyindividualresult,”Fuschinosaid.
ThestateHealthDepartmentstaffat
TEAMWORK—ResearchscientistsatWadsworthCenter’sGriffinLaboratoryincludePEFmembers(L-R)MichelleDupuis,
DarylLamsonandMeghanFuschinowhoareamongthoseinvolvedwithperformingthevariousteststodetermineifspecimens
carrytheswinefluvirus.
www.pef.org TheCommunicatorJune2009—Page9
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