April 24 through 30 is National Laboratory Professionals Week, a time for us to take a moment to thank our hard-working laboratory staff. This week we will celebrate the vital contributions laboratory professionals make to protect public health and safety. Our Public Health Lab is a leader in Arizona and the United States. In March [...]
Our Arizona State Public Health Laboratory has been selected as a Level 1 Laboratory in the USDA's Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) Cooperative Agreement Program. FERN currently comprises federal, state, and local government regulatory laboratories with varying capacities to perform threat agent testing. The FERN Program enhances the nation's ability to detect microbiological, radiological and chemical threat agents [...]
A couple of weeks ago a healthcare worker who recently returned from Saudi Arabia was the first confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the U.S. This week the CDC and the Florida health department confirmed a 2nd US case. A person with MERS traveled Saudi Arabia - London - Boston - Atlanta - [...]
Last December I wrote about an investigation done by a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about newborn screening program turn-around times across the country. When I saw where Arizona stood relative to the other states in the article, we set a new goal of making sure that our Lab gets 95% of all newborn [...]
An investigative article published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a couple of weeks ago has triggered a state by state assessment of newborn screening programs across the country. Arizona is no exception. Our newborn screening and maternal and child health teams have been reviewing our procedures and looking for ways to improve Arizona’s performance. For example, several Arizona [...]
Every year we get reports of wild animals with bizarre behaviors like approaching people rather than running away, charging vehicles, latching on to arms of joggers and refusing to let go, even walking into a bar. In many cases, these animals are found to be rabid. Bats are usually our most frequent reservoirs for rabies in AZ… [...]
Our Lab just finished a major website makeover. Check out the new Laboratory landing page which will lead you to Newborn Screening, Microbiology, Chemistry, and Lab Licensure and Certification.
Your AZ Public Health Laboratory was recognized this month at the CDC Laboratory Response Network National meeting for Innovative Collaborations with AZ's first responders. We were lauded for our unique approaches to training hazmat technicians on the use of handheld analytical instruments for testing chemical and biological agents in the field and demonstrating testing capabilities available at the public health lab. [...]
I thought it would be fun to give some perspective on public health and the Department’s activities 100 years ago as we approach our Centennial in a few weeks. Our AZ Public Health Laboratory is celebrating its 100th birthday shortly- just like the State. Our Lab was one of the first parts of state government- it created by the [...]
Our state public health laboratory Environmental & Analytical Chemistry unit has been selected as 1 of 8 chemistry laboratories across the country that will be examining commercial seafood for contaminants from the gusher in the Gulf. The goal is find out whether commercial seafood has been contaminated by the oil spill and if so, to [...]
