Strengthening Laboratories to Combat Infectious Diseases
Infectious diseases pose a continuing threat to all people. Laboratory detection and confirmation of the disease causing agent is the cornerstone of effective disease control and prevention efforts. Public health laboratories in every state are the backbone of our nation’s infectious disease surveillance networks.
APHL’s Infectious Diseases Program promotes the role of the laboratory in disease detection and surveillance, and works to expand and enhance relationships among member laboratories, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, other federal and state agencies, associations and academia involved in relevant public health activities, including laboratory testing, policy and training.
New Disease Challenges
Although we’ve seen success in the treatment and prevention of some infectious diseases in the United States, such as bacterial meningitis, chickenpox, and hepatitis with antibiotics, vaccines and other medical advancements, new diseases such as hantavirus, SARS and West Nile Virus continually emerge to challenge how we treat infectious diseases.
Other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and plague, reemerge in drug-resistant forms or as bioterror threats. The rapid global movement of people and products increases the likelihood that Americans will be exposed to emerging diseases such as dengue virus, avian influenza, food-borne pathogens or drug-resistant sexually transmitted infections. Laboratories must be prepared for the unexpected because the emergence of new diseases cannot be predicted.
Next Steps
APHL will continue to advance laboratory capacity and capability to detect infectious diseases via strategies linking public health laboratories with clinical, veterinary, food, agricultural and academic laboratories; ongoing support for development and utilization of rapid, sensitive detection assays; and monitoring the impact of federal regulatory actions on laboratory testing, biosafety and biosecurity.