Lab Matters Winter 2018 | Page 17

public health preparedness and response

by Michael Marsico, MS, specialist, Biosafety and Biosecurity

top: The storm destroyed the waterproofing layer on PRPHR’ s roof.

bottom: FEMA provided a generator for PRPHL to restore power in the laboratory.

assistance with acquiring reagents.

Upon completion of the four assessments, the APHL team worked with laboratory staff and CDC to develop plans to restore public health testing services. Although each laboratory had different needs, priorities included consistent access to power, functioning equipment, replacing lost reagents and guaranteeing safe working conditions for staff.

On the Road to Recovery

Four months after Hurricane Maria, the Puerto Rico Department of Health is working diligently to restore essential testing services as the island continues to recover from this devastating event. The four Puerto Rican laboratories, CDC and APHL will continue to collaborate to guarantee the resiliency of these essential public health resources. n

A new cadre of biosafety professionals are taking on laboratory biosafety and biosecurity performance gaps identified during the Ebola outbreak. With support from APHL, they aim to improve biosafety and biosecurity practices within their respective jurisdictions( state, locality or territory). Supplemental funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC) underwrites this initiative which assists both public health and clinical laboratories.

Ed Kopp and Lylah Seaton launched their public health careers in the Virology Department at the Florida Bureau of Public Health Laboratories( BPHL)-Tampa. With this experience as a foundation, they pursued extensive training and study in how to build a biosafety program. Soon they were conducting biosafety risk assessments at Florida’ s public health and sentinel clinical laboratories and developing biosafety resources with support from BPHL staff. These include biosafety risk assessment tools, a biosafety training and a resource website.

Kopp and Seaton have not hesitated to think outside the box in pursuit of their objectives. They’ ve used Glo Germ and smoke machines for training in glove usage, handwashing and proper use of a biosafety cabinet, and posted cues to good biosafety practices around BPHL as entertaining reminders to staff.

In other activities in support of biosafety, Kopp and Seaton have:

• Trained BPHL staff to perform risk assessments of specimen handling and testing processes using the CDC biosafety competency guidelines to assess student knowledge

• Advised BPHL supervisors concerning the biosafety components of CLIAcompliant competency assessments

• Trained clinical laboratories in biosafety risk assessment and tactics to mitigate gaps in biosafety

• Organized practice in donning and doffing of PPE and incident response

• Published a laboratory biosafety newsletter distributed to the BPHL Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami laboratories

Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity( ELC) Biosafety funding and APHL resources and training have been instrumental in the development of these positions and resources. Through continued funding and APHL support, Kopp, Seaton and BPHL will continue to develop this safety culture to protect staff and deliver timely, quality lab results. n

top: Biosafety Outreach Officer Ed Kopp inspects a biosafety cabinet at the Florida Department of Health. Photo: FL BPHL

bottom: Biosafety Outreach Officer Lylah Seaton prepares for an inspection. Photo: FL BPHL