APHL 2019 POSTER ABSTRACTS
Biosafety Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC)’s Biosafety
Project Made Important Strides in Improving Biosafety
Practices Across the US
Frontlines: Biosafety Success Stories from the Field K. Bellis, L. Del Castillo, C. Chung, A. Pullman, A. Shultz and A.
O’Connor, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
M. Marsico, Association of Public Health Laboratories, SIlver Spring, MD
In 2015, 64 state, local and territorial public health labs (PHLs)
were awarded a three-year, $21 million US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity
Domestic Ebola Supplemental for Enhanced Laboratory Biosafety
and Biosecurity Capacity Cooperative Agreement. The agreement
was designed to enhance PHL biosafety capacity, and improve
coordination and outreach with clinical labs.
With the cooperative agreement in place, a new cadre of biosafety
officers (BSOs) were hired across these PHLs whose role was taking
on biosafety and biosecurity performance gaps identified during
the Ebola outbreak. These BSOs aim to improve lab biosafety
and biosecurity practices within their respective jurisdictions
(state, locality or territory) and guide assessment of biosafety and
biosecurity practices at clinical labs in their regions. APHL supports
these BSOs with resources, training, leadership development
programs and a community of practice. The goal is a national cadre
of professionally trained biosafety officers.
Four years after the inception of the Cooperative Agreement,
labs have made significant advances in strengthening biosafety
and biosecurity practices. BSOs assist clinical lab staff to identify
potential risks at their facility and follow up with guidance and
training. For example, they have assisted with development of a
risk management plan or provided hands on training in packaging
and shipping of hazardous agents. Clinical labs have completed
risk assessments, with positive results. Additionally, they have
maintained a relationship with their PHL BSO, reaching out with
questions whenever as issues arise.
What would you like attendees to learn from this?
Attendees will hear successes from PHLs across the country on
how they utilized the funding to enhance and improve their internal
biosafety practices along with clinical labs within their jurisdiction.
Attendees will also gather information on how these BSOs plan to
continue their efforts after the funding will no longer continue.
Relevance: With the Ebola Supplemental coming to an end, this
poster will share success stories PHLs have achieved during the
past four years.
Learning Objectives: List biosafety success stories from PHLs during
the Cooperative Agreement; Describe PHL activities to strengthen
biosafety internally and with their clinical labs; Highlight best practices
to develop strong connections between PHLs and clinical labs.
Presenter: Michael Marsico, Association of Public Health
Laboratories, Silver Spring, MD, [email protected]
38
LAB MATTERS Summer 2019
Methods: Over a three-year period, we collected data every six
months on eight quantitative indicators beginning in March 2015
and concluding in March 2018. We conducted a descriptive analysis
of indicators following each data collection in order to assess
progress towards attaining programmatic milestones and outcomes.
At the end of the project period, we compared final results of
indicator data with baseline values to evaluate the overall impact of
the project.
Results: Following our midline assessment, PHLs continued to meet
targets for improving staff competency for working in Biosafety
Level 3 laboratories as well as staff certifications in packaging and
shipping. Greatest gains in progress were seen with PHLs meeting
the target for having policies in place to perform risk assessments
(RAs) (+39%). Clinical laboratory partners also made progress on all
indicators, especially in increasing staff certifications for packaging
and shipping (+15%) and having policies in place to perform RAs
(+14%). As of the March 2018, 70% of jurisdictions reported that at
least half of their clinical laboratory partners had performed a RA
over the project period.
Conclusions: The results of the final evaluation showed that
progress continued consistently from the midline evaluation until the
end of the project period, particularly for clinical laboratory partners.
PHLs had the greatest gains in progress around developing and
communicating risk assessment policies. Clinical laboratory
partners were also able to improve biosafety practices over the
three-year period. Data suggest that the ongoing communication
and interaction between PHLs and clinical laboratory partners over
the project period had a positive effect on clinical laboratories’
progress towards achieving biosafety outcomes. Overall, putting
resources specifically towards improving laboratory biosafety
practices in both the PHL and clinical laboratory settings appeared
to have the intended outcomes towards preparing laboratories to
strengthen biosafety practices for emerging infectious diseases.
Presenter: Lisetta Del Castillo, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Atlanta, GA, [email protected]
Laboratory Acquired Infections: Showcasing the Need for
Laboratory Biosafety
M. Marsico, Association of Public Health Laboratories, Silver Spring, MD
Description: Laboratories are responsible for protecting their lab
workers from harmful infectious and hazardous agents, yet there
have still been numerous staff exposures to these biological agents.
This is due to in part a lack of biosafety practices being conducted
in these laboratories. Laboratory acquired infections (LAIs) have
demonstrated serious gaps in biosafety and biosecurity practices
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
APHL.org
Prior to the Ebola outbreak in PHLs, biosafety practices and
procedures had been instituted but resources to support a program
were limited. There were no outreach programs dedicated solely
to strengthening biosafety and biosecurity practices toward clinical
labs. Few of these clinical labs across the country conducted
assessments to manage the risks posed by pathogens and staff
often lacked training in biosafety and biosecurity practices.
Objective: From March 2015 to March 2018, CDC awarded $24.1
million to 63 states and territorial health departments to support
public health laboratories (PHLs) and their clinical partners in order
to improve laboratory biosafety practices for dealing with Ebola
virus disease and other emerging infectious diseases. We evaluated
the project’s effectiveness at improving biosafety procedures and
practices across US jurisdictions over three years.