APHL 2018 Annual Meeting Poster Abstracts
independent testing (CIDT) but no E. coli O157:H7 was recovered
via traditional culturing techniques. This subset of samples includes
the reference (index) patient and an environmental sample of horse
manure.
Presenter: Kelly Oakeson, PhD, Utah Public Health Laboratory,
Taylorsville, UT, Phone: 801.965.2400, Email: [email protected]
Comparison of Sequence-based Salmonella Serotyping
Methods for Use in a State Public Health Laboratory
N. Florek, S. Wagner, K. Gundlach, A. Jaedike, A. Bateman and D.
Warshauer, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, Madison, WI
Background: Public health surveillance and outbreak investigations
of Salmonella are historically monitored through Salmonella
serotyping. With the introduction of whole genome sequencing
(WGS), public health laboratories are looking to sequencing to
replace conventional testing by producing a highly accurate analysis
of the genotype. However, in order to use WGS in a public health
laboratory the approach must undergo a rigorous validation to meet
Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) standards.
Results: Agreement was highest between conventional serotyping
and SISTR at 93%, which improved to 95% after repeating
conventional serotyping on five discordant isolates. Agreement
between SISTR and SeqSero was lower at 88%. Agreement was
lowest between conventional serotyping and SeqSero at 85%,
but improved to 87% after repeating conventional serotyping on
5 isolates as above. Between all 3 methods there was an overall
agreement of 85%.
Conclusion: Both sequence-based Salmonella serotyping methods
provided results at a higher accuracy than conventional antisera.
Agreement between the sequence methods led to the repeated
analyses on 5 samples that had been incorrectly serotyped.
SeqSero’s difficulty in distinguishing closely related serotypes or
subspecies accounted for most of the disagreements between the
sequence-based methods. SISTR’s approach of using both O, H1
and H2 antigen gene detection alongside a core genome MLST
analysis appears to allow the most accurate serotype determination.
Presenter: Nicholas Florek, PhD, MPH, Wisconsin State Laboratory
of Hygiene, Madison, WI, Phone: 608.224.4331, Email:
[email protected]
Global Health
A Quality-Integrated and Leadership-Focused Approach
to Biorisk Management Training In West Africa
J. Alam, C. Asbun, B. Karlstrand, M. Mar, D. Roberts, S. Shearrer, L.
Presser and S. Altman, MRIGlobal, Gaithersburg, MD
The high rate of Ebola virus infection among West African laboratory
workers during the 2014–2016 epidemic demonstrated a need to
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
APHL.org
Presenter: Jane Alam, MRIGlobal, Gaithersburg, MD,
Phone: 240.361.4043, Email: [email protected]
An International Collaboration to Develop Laboratory
Leadership Competencies to Strengthen Laboratory
Workforce Development in Support of Global Health Security
J. Isadore, S. Dittrich 2 ; 1 Public Health Works, LLC, Holliston, MA,
2
Association of Public Health Laboratories, Silver Spring, MD
In 2014 the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) was launched
to accelerate progress towards global health preparedness and to
support capacity-building efforts. The GHSA Workforce Development
Action Package emphasizes the need for rigorous and sustainable
training programs including practical hands-on experience for public
health professionals. Currently, laboratory science training programs
vary widely across the globe; however, a component consistently
absent in these curricula is leadership training. In low- and middle-
income countries there are limited stand-alone opportunities for
laboratory-specific leadership training. Thus a majority of laboratory
managers learn on-the-job through experience and if available,
mentorship rather than formal training. Core competencies for
laboratory leadership are critically important to improve training
opportunities by informing curriculum development and guiding
professional development. The need for a comprehensive global
framework including competency-based and laboratory-specific
leadership training and mentorship will allow countries to move
forward towards meeting the GHSA workforce development
goals. Global consensus and publication of laboratory leadership
competencies will encourage standardization of laboratory
leadership learning approaches and encourage their use by
national and international implementing agencies. To this end the
Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), the US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the European Centre for
Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organization
for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO)
have partnered to develop a Laboratory Leadership Competency
Framework and training package for a Global Laboratory Leadership
Summer 2018 LAB MATTERS
59
Methods: As part of CLSI validation, we evaluated two sequence
based Salmonella serotyping tools, the Salmonella in silico Typing
Resource (SISTR) and SeqSero for use at the Wisconsin State
Laboratory of Hygiene. We compared serotype identification of 255
Salmonella enterica isolates using conventional antisera, SISTR and
SeqSero.
strengthen biorisk management (BRM) in local, national-staffed
laboratories. A systems approach for integrating biosafety and
biosecurity within an institute or facility, BRM is typically taught
as a set of policies and procedures distinct from other clinical
laboratory training. A common underlying assumption is that, once
trained, participants will develop BRM programs for their institutions
with minimal guidance and harmonize them with their existing
laboratory quality management systems (LQMS). This assumption
is problematic in West African laboratories. Many labs currently
lack fully developed LQMS. The labs also typically lack st rong
leadership and support required for successful implementation and
sustainment. With these deficiencies in mind, a unique curriculum
was created integrating LQMS training into a standard BRM training
curriculum and specifically targeting institute directors, deputy
directors, stakeholder ministry representatives and laboratory
management personnel. The training curriculum was implemented
in three countries; Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Case studies
for each are presented along with their individual challenges and
strengths. It is important to remember that while our models are
state and local health departments in the USA, the structures
that allow for efficient operations at these facilities are not always
available, or differ in West African countries.