food safety
It’s All About the Food:
APHL Convenes PulseNet/
OutbreakNet Regional Meetings
by Precious Kolawole, senior technician, Food Safety
Laboratorians, epidemiologists,
environmental health specialists and
government scientists from around
the country gathered in four cities
from November 2016 and April 2017
for the annual PulseNet/OutbreakNet
regional meetings. The regional
meetings drew a combined total of
more than 500 attendees to Nashville,
TN (Southeast region), San Francisco,
CA (Mountain/West), Chicago, IL
(Central/Midwest) and Providence, RI
(Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region).
Managing the growing volume of
data involved in foodborne outbreak
surveillance and response was a major
topic at all meetings. Laboratories
transitioning from PFGE to WGS
protocols require increased capacity and
capability to manage the large volume
of data generated from sequencing.
CDC experts shared data storage tips,
such as cleaning up error uploads
before migrating to BioNumerics 7.6,
where PFGE and WGS data are merged
into pathogen-specific databases.
Laboratories in Tennessee and Iowa
discussed how they have responded to
the challenges of culture-independent
diagnostic testing (CIDT). Nationwide,
differences in isolate recovery for
pathogens detected using multi-analyte
nucleic acid panels demonstrate the
need for standardized laboratory
practices for isolate recovery. Another
major theme discussed included
integrating WGS into PFGE workflows
for subtyping all pathogens. California,
New York State Wadsworth, Ohio,
Texas and Virginia provided their
The regional meetings were co-sponsored by:
• Association of Public Health Laboratories
• Council of State and Territorial
Epidemiologists
• US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention Enteric Diseases
Laboratory Branch
• US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention Outbreak Response
and Prevention Branch
• US Department of Agriculture Food
Safety and Inspection Service
• US Food and Drug Administration
perspectives on the current challenges
with using WGS for surveillance for
data interpretation and reporting.
The regional meetings affirmed the value
of communication and information
sharing in strengthening national
foodborne surveillance activities. PulseNet
and OutbreakNet would not be where
they are today without the openness and
generosity of participating scientists. ■
Amplify Your Voice and Become Involved with the Council
to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) Today
• Suggest a project
• Give feedback on tools
• Use and share
CIFOR resources
• Contribute to the next
edition of the Guidelines
• GA
Email [email protected]
to get involved.
22
LAB MATTERS Summer 2017
Check out the www.cifor.us website
for the 2nd Edition of CIFOR Guidelines
and Toolkit, Outbreaks of Undetermined
Etiology Guidelines, and much more!
Visit the CIFOR website at
www.cifor.us.
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
APHL.org