Health & Safety: Members instrumental in H1N1 testing

Members instrumental in H1N1 testing
Story and photos By DEBORAH A. MILES
The swine flu made front-page news in mid-April, as the H1N1 virus that began in Mexico and quickly circled the globe had been detected in nearly three dozen countries.

PEF members at Wadsworth Center’s Griffin Laboratory in Slingerlands were among the first to be approved for independent testing of the H1N1 virus by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This was a brand new test for our staff to implement,” said PEF member Kirsten St. George, chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the state Health Department.

“To make it operational, we had to train staff and write new software. It was a huge undertaking.”

The lab sees about 50 samples a day, unlike the avalanche of samples some other states have experienced. In New York, local health departments have strict screening criteria before allowing samples to be sent to Wadsworth.

Once they get to Wadsworth, the highly serious testing begins.

Diverse tests
PEF member Meghan Fuschino, a research scientist, said it takes about eight hours to discover if a sample is positive or negative. The sample goes through a slew of tests, and everything is checked by two scientists.

“We are extremely careful to validate any individual result,” Fuschino said.

Wadsworth Center tests samples from Long Island to Buffalo, with the exception of New York City which has its own testing facility. By May 13, New York state excluding New York City had 47 confirmed cases at the Griffin Lab. The number of laboratory-confirmed cases had risen to 3,009 nationwide and caused three deaths.

The flu season typically ends at the end of May, according to St. George.

“We’ll have to see if the swine flu understands that,” she said. “Typically, during summer we tend to detect influenza in travelers coming in from the Southern Hemisphere or from the tropics. We don’t know how the swine flu will behave.”

Dedicated staff
The state Health Department staff at the Wadsworth Laboratories, which includes four facilities in the Capital Region, study public health issues, from drug resistance to emerging infections and environmental exposures.

Griffin uses exclusively molecular testing methods for the viruses that cause encephalitis or brain inflammation. PEF members also work in another lab with diverse testing methods for different diseases and respiratory illness.
Fuschino said she is proud to be a part of a staff that works as a team.

“Everyone is doing a great job,” she said. ”We are here to respond to public health threats and are dedicated in what we do.