Activities of the Cadham Provincial Laboratory
Media/Quality Assurance
The Media/Quality
Assurance Section is responsible for:
- Quality assurance of laboratory tests for the Public Health Lab;
- Quality control of all diagnostic kits, microbial identification systems;
- Providing infrastructure and expertise for CPL accreditation surveys; and
- Assuring laboratory safety.
Microbiology
The Microbiology Section is responsible for:
Public health laboratory testing and investigation of human bacterial enteric pathogens and
food-borne illness investigation e.g., salmonella;- Sexually transmitted disease testing, e.g., Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhea;
- Screening for mothers and babies at risk for Group B hemolytic streptococcal colonization and infections;
- Testing of antibiotic-resistant organisms, e.g. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci;
- Identification and typing of difficult or unusual organisms;
- Testing for respiratory organisms such as Bordetella pertussis, Legionella species, Corynebacterium diphtheria and Invasive Beta hemolytic streptococcus; and
- Applied research and development of diagnostic methods and organism and toxin identification.
Perinatal Chemistry
The Perinatal Chemistry section is responsible for:
Screening all newborn babies for over 40 different metabolic and endocrine disorders, including: Phenylketonuria (PKU), Medium Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase (MCAD) Deficiency, Galactosemia, Congenital Hypothyroidism, Cystic fibrosis (CF), Biotinidase Deficiency, and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia; - Screening all babies for Carnitine Palmitoyl Transferase Type 1 Deficiency or Glutaric Acidemia Type 1 Deficiency;
- Screening maternal serum specimens for fetal Open Neural Tube Defects and quadruple testing for Down Syndrome risk assessment; and
- Providing program information, monitoring and evaluation, and patient referral to specialists.
For more information on newborn screening, please click here; practitioners please click here.
What’s New in Newborn Screening in Manitoba September 2011
Serology/Parasitology
The Serology/Parasitology Section is responsible for:
Surveillance and diagnostic testing in support of Public Health Programs, e.g. prenatal screening for HIV, Syphilis, Hepatitis Band immune status testing for Rubella;Serodiagnostic testing for viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases, e.g., HIV, Hepatitis (A,B,C), Syphilis, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, VZV, CMV, EBV, HSV, Parvovirus B19, WNV, Lyme, H. pylori, Mycoplasma, Toxoplasma;- Seroprevalence surveys and vaccine efficacy studies;
- HIV, Hepatitis Band C viral load testing for monitoring therapy;
- Serological and molecular testing of organ donors for infectious diseases in support of Transplant Manitoba Gift of Life Program and the Misericordia Eye Bank;
- Detection of parasites; and
- Applied research for molecular and serodiagnostic methods.
Virus Detection
The Virus Detection Section is responsible for:
Provincial viral diagnostic services; - Surveillance of respiratory, enteric and sexually transmitted infection of viral etiology;
- Supplying viral strain information and primary isolates to the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control for national viral surveillance;
- Monitoring viral isolates to ensure vaccine-preventable diseases are not circulating;
- Detecting viral infections of immunocompromised persons (HIV-infected, transplant recipients) for treatment,
- Identifying and monitoring virus outbreaks, including respiratory and enteric;
- Research and development of new techniques for timely detection of viral agents, typing viral agents to establish source and etiology of outbreaks.
Cadham Provincial Laboratory |
