APHL 2018 Annual Meeting Poster Abstracts
that were eventually twinned. Based on the twinning model,
the PHL alternately visit the other’s institution. The visiting lab
spends approximately three days at the host PHL working closely
with them on an agenda tailored to the needs of the visiting
institution. Biosafety and biosecurity plans, occupational health
programs, regulated waste management and sentinel clinical
outreach are a few of the topics that are examined. Within three
months, the roles are reversed and the initial host travels to the
other’s facility. The Biosafety Peer Network facilitates mentoring
and information sharing among biosafety professionals in PHLs.
Analyzing the trip reports from the 24 twinned laboratories, we
have seen PHLs improve the implementation of their respective
biosafety and biosecurity programs. PHLs have initiated changes
in their biosecurity plans, donning and doffing procedures, waste
management protocols and sentinel laboratory outreach program
to name a few. Finally, this program pools limited resources to
strengthen biosafety and biosecurity nationwide to foster an
environment of collaboration and community of practice among
the relevant stakeholders as well as to develop a baseline level of
competency in biosafety and biosecurity for all programs across all
PHLs. The biosafety and biosecurity programs at these PHLs are
more harmonized due to their common source of guidance. This
standardization among different organizations is beneficial in many
aspects such as implementing new procedures and communication
between partners. APHL plans to continue this program in 2018 for
another round, pairing additional PHLs across the United States. The three year funding of $21 million aims to strengthen biosafety
and biosecurity programs at PHLs and to assist these labs with
outreach to clinical labs. Questions from both surveys were solicited
in the areas of funding, workforce, biosafety competencies, risk
assessments, biosafety/biosecurity drills or exercises, clinical lab
outreach training and related resource needs. Additional questions
in the 2017 Biosafety and Biosecurity Survey included funding
questions related to maintaining biosafety programs after the three
year funding period is concluded along with the effectiveness of the
APHL developed resources. Key findings from both surveys included
PHLs are utilizing the CDC funding to strengthen internal biosafety
and biosecurity programs. Successes include implementing risk
assessments, reaching out to sentinel clinical labs and delivering
training courses to thousands of clinical laboratorians. The survey
data shows that PHLs still face challenges such as inconsistent
funding, a diminished workforce pool, limited guidance documents
and limited buy-in from clinical labs. APHL via its Public Health
Preparedness and Response staff and Biosafety and Biosecurity
Committee (BBC) plans to utilize these survey findings to address
the identified gaps and continue to provide support to PHL directors
and biosafety professionals.
Presenter: Drew Fayram, MS, State Hygienic Laboratory at the
University of Iowa, Coralville, IA, Phone: 319.335.4864, Email:
[email protected] Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious
Diseases Cooperative Agreement (ELC)’s Enhanced
Biosafety Project: Progress Toward Biosafety Milestones
and Outcomes
Analysis from the APHL 2016 and 2017 Biosafety
and Biosecurity Surveys K. Bellis, C. Chung, A. Shultz, A. O’Connor and A. Pullman, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Recent events such as the Ebola Virus Disease have called
attention to the climate of biosafety and biosecurity in public health
laboratories (PHLs) around the US. During this response, significant
gaps were identified in US laboratory biosafety practices. In 2015,
the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded
APHL a $2.2 million Domestic Laboratory Biosafety for Ebola and
other Highly Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement. Over
the course of three years (2015–2018), APHL has strengthened
biosafety across US laboratories by coordinating with CDC, state,
local and territorial health departments and other partners to
review biosafety practices, address identified gaps, develop and
promote tools to help laboratorians improve biosafety practices
and assist PHLs with outreach to clinical labs. With the support
of CDC funding, APHL conducted the 2016 and 2017 Biosafety
and Biosecurity Surveys to the 62 state, local, territorial and US
Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) PHLs that received $21 million
in March 2015 via the CDC Domestic Ebola Supplement to the
Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (ELC)
Cooperative Agreement — Building and Strengthening Epidemiology,
Laboratory and Health Information Systems Capacity in State
and Local Health Departments to identify current biosafety and
biosecurity practices and gaps. These 62 PHLs include all 50
states, the District of Columbia, the five largest US metropolitan
areas and US territories and US Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI).
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
APHL.org
M. Marsico 1 , C. Mangal 1 , J. Rosalez 1 , S. Woldehanna 1 , D. Fayram 2 ;
1
Association of Public Health Laboratories, Silver Spring, MD, 2 State
Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa, Coralville, IA
Presenter: Michael Marsico, Association of Public Heal th
Laboratories, Silver Spring, MD, Phone: 240.485.2710,
Email: [email protected]
Objective: In March 2015, CDC awarded $24.1 million to 63
state and territorial health departments to support public health
laboratories (PHLs) and their clinical partners in improving
laboratory biosafety practices for dealing with Ebola virus disease
and other emerging infectious diseases. A set of eight indicators
was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the project at making
progress towards important biosafety milestones and outcomes.
Methods: Data collection on the eight quantitative indicators is
ongoing, starting in March 2015 and continuing through March
2018. A descriptive analysis of indicators is conducted after each
data submission. Additionally, ELC staff conducted calls with each
PHL to discuss progress made on the indicators and work plan
activities.
Results: PHLs reported progress in putting risk assessment (RA)
policies in place (+19%). They met targets for improving staff
certifications in packaging and shipping and staff competency
for working in Biosafety Level 3 laboratories. Clinical laboratory
partners made progress on all indicators, with more improvement
made on increasing staff certifications in packaging and shipping
(+27%) compared to conducting RAs (+20%) and having policies in
place to perform RAs (+26%).
Conclusions: PHLs have made progress on improving staff
competency in biosafety practices and strengthened their
ability to address biosafety issues. Gaps still exist in improving
biosafety practices among clinical laboratory partners. Outreach
to clinical laboratory partners was most successful when PHLs
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