Lab Matters Summer 2018 | Page 55

APHL 2018 Annual Meeting Poster Abstracts

faces large-scale cholera outbreaks, environmental protection remains crucial to ensuring healthy communities and a clean environment. A critical component of protecting the environment is a strong scientific understanding of the underlying information and technology measuring exposure, assessing impacts and mitigating risk. US Environmental Protection Agency’ s( US EPA) Office of Research and Development( ORD) provides scientific research and technology that is the foundation of decisions to better protect public health and the environment. ORD focuses on topics such as safe and sustainable water; air and energy; chemical safety evaluation and risk assessment; homeland security; and sustainable and healthy communities. ORD works closely with groups to identify the most important environmental health challenges facing the nation and discuss how research could be used to address these challenges. ORD is comprised of national laboratories and centers located in 14 facilities across the country. ORD facilities are worldclass scientific organizations, providing research used at the local, regional, national and international levels. These facilities play a major role in engaging local communities in science. The poster will present an overview of ORD’ s technical capabilities by summarizing scientific research and providing examples of capabilities from a sample of six out of the 14 facilities across the country. The six ORD research facilities are briefly described below.

• Narragansett, Rhode Island— Focuses on the health of ecosystems located along the Atlantic Coast.

• Gulf Breeze, Florida— Focuses on the impact of human-made stressors on public health and the ecosystems of the Gulf Coast.

• Research Triangle Park, North Carolina— Focuses on decontamination technology research for homeland security, computational toxicology research and research on the health effects of air pollution.

• Cincinnati, Ohio-— Conducts a variety of research to manage chemical risks, clean up hazardous sites and protect water quality.

• Duluth, Minnesota— Focuses on predicting and assessing stressors such as pesticides, bacteria and changes in land use affect human health and the water resources of the Great Lakes and United States.

• Ada, OK— Features several unique research capabilities, including laboratories, field equipment and test wells to perform specialized subsurface investigations on groundwater contaminant transport and develop and assess technologies for remediating groundwater contamination.

Presenter: Michaela Burns, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, Email: burns. michaela @ epa. gov

Public Health Role in Reducing Legionnaires’ Disease Risk P. Root, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., Westbrook, ME

Legionella pneumonphila is the number one waterborne pathogen and the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease. The mortality rate for healthcare-acquired Legionnaires’ disease is 25 %. Yet, as the US CDC published in 2017, 9 out of 10 cases of Legionnaires’ disease can be prevented with proper water system management. Several organizations have developed standards designed to address the prevention of Legionnaires’ disease. For healthcare facilities, water safety management requirements are specified in the Centers of

Medicare and Medicaid( CMS) rules published in June 2017. But many healthcare facilities are still unclear how to proceed and are contacting their local public health laboratories for assistance. The CMS rules and the roles public health laboratories play in reducing Legionnaires’ disease risk in their communities will be outlined in this poster.

Effective Legionnaires’ disease management can be accomplished through following one of several standards. The CMS Rule points to two documents: ASHRAE 188:2015 and the US CDC Tool Kit. This poster will outline the key objectives and activities of water management planning and oversight, including;

• Water Safety Management Plan Development: What are the key elements of a good plan? How do they fit together?

• Water Safety Management Program Team: What can public health professionals contribute to planning teams?

• Water Safety Management Program Verification and Validation: What controls should be considered? What is the value of microbiological testing? What roles can public and commercial laboratories play?

This poster provides details on tools, resources and other support that public health professionals can provide to help healthcare facilities develop and implement water safety management programs that successfully reduce the incidence of Legionnaires’ disease.

Presenter: Patsy Root, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., Westbrook, ME, Phone: 207.566.8947, Email: patsy-root @ idexx. com

Facilitating the Transition to Accurate Hormone Testing: Activities of the Partnership for the Accurate Testing of Hormones( PATH)

R. Rej 1, H. Vesper 2; 1 Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, 2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that may interfere with the body’ s endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects. Measuring the effects of these compounds highly depends on accurate and reliable hormone tests. Many hormone tests were found to be inaccurate and unreliable and efforts are under way to improve this situation. The Partnership for the Accurate Testing of Hormones( PATH) is working with key organizations— including APHL— to ensure that the analytical quality of hormone tests meets clinical and public health needs. Furthermore, it provides information to help those relying on accurate laboratory tests about the quality of hormone tests and approaches to assess analytical quality of these tests. This poster will summarize the state of hormone testing including analytical performance of hormone tests and its impact on research translation, patient care and public health; describe PATH’ s programs and activities to improve the quality of hormone tests; describe quality indicators for hormone tests and how to obtain information about test quality.

Note: This poster has been prepared in collaboration with the Partnership for the Accurate Testing of Hormones( PATH) and the APHL Environmental Health Committee.

Presenter: Robert Rej, PhD, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Phone: 518.474.5101, Email: bob @ wadsworth. org

Environmental Health