A2B-Laneastar Fuming, Saturday, July 22, 1995
PDA Diagnostic Laboratory
(Conttniwd from Pag* At)
which could result in die quick and
devastating, spread of disease.
This observation is not an alar
mist’s call It is a very real threat
and the agriculture industry is
jading the way in creating a solid,
respected quick response effort to
protect people and livestock.
The avaian influenza outbreak,
the reoocurance of bovine tubercu
losis during the 1980 s, new strains
of bovine virus diarrhea, bacteria,
fungus, etc. are all recent examples
of what health threats are present.
And for the first lime since the
1980 s outbreak pf rabies in the
state when no one state agency
took responsbility for testing for
the disease much less helping to
control it, the tripartite animal
diagnostic laboratory system
offers the entire public a solid net
work of defense against health
threats from animat disease.
On the farm, the term used to
describe methods to detect and
mostly prevent the spread of dis
ease is “biosecurity.**
Poultry producers especially
and more recently swine producers
have instituted greater biosecurity
controls since having been faced
with potentially devastating dis
eases. On these farms access to
buildings is restricted and clothes
and footwear are to be clean and
uncontaminated by potentially dis
ease carrying matter.
The dairy industry, especially
with such recent diseases as straw
berry wart (it is referred to by sev
eral common names) and new
strains of bovine viral diarrhea, is
starting to implement such protec
tive practices on farms such as
requiring footwear to be washed
and clean or protected in a solid
plastic slipover boot before visi
tors or non-essential people enter
an animal traffic area.
On a grander scale
that is what the state is
undergoing. The state’s
tripartite diagnostic sys
tem is to serve as a coor
dinated and cooperative
effort between produc
ers, veterinarians,
researchers and univer
sity and state diagnosti
cians to quickly identify
and isolate animal
disease.
Especially disease
that poses risks to the
rest of the agricultural
industry and to the
health of the residents of
the commonwealth.
In .order for the sys
tem to work, people
need to know about it
and Support it.
Dr. C. Seymour Card,
executive director of the
Pennsylvania Depart
ment of Ariculture
(PDA) laboratories, said
last week that the break
ing of ground for the
new state laboratory to
replace the old 1920 s
Summerdale Laborat
ory marks the nearing of
the completion of a fully
functioning and accre
dited Pennsylvania Ani
mal Diagnostic Laborat
ory System (PADLS).
The state earlier this
year received condition
al accreditation that
lasts for three years.
Within three years, the
new lab should be fully
functioning, equipped
and tied directly into a
computer and telephone
link between Penn State
Univesity Animal Disease Labor*
atory and the University of Pen
nsylvania New Bolton Center
Diagnostic Laboratories.
According to Dr. Card, the sys
tem is to work for the producer by
having field people ready to inves
tigate unusual disease occurances.
For now there are to be two such
Held investigators, both specially
trained to access research, data,
and assistance agencies in deter
mining causes of animal health
problems and possible solutions.
The support structure behind the
field investigator is strong.
The directing agency is the Pen
nsylvania Animal' Health and
Diagnostic Commission, which
was established by an act of the
Pennsylvania Legislature in 1988.
Chaired by the state secretary of
agriculture, three veterinarians and
six fanners sit on the commission
along with the majority and minor
ity chairman of the House and
Senate Agricultural and Rural
Affairs committees.
What has resulted in the follow
ing years has been a cooperative
effort between PDA Bureau of
Diagnostic Laboratories, the Penn
State University Animal Diagnos
tic Laboratory and the University
of Pennsylvania New Bolton Cen
ter Diagnostic Laboratories.
The new state diagnostic lab is
to provide 30,000 square feet of
space with 20,000 devoted to lab
space and the rest to administration
and management.
All three labs in the system are
to have their own incinerators to
dispose of biological tissues as a
further safeguard to the
community.
The state facility is to have a
special area for bringing sick or
dead animals to the laboratory for
testing, necropsies, etc. The
receiving dock is to have restricted
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access and a distinfccting bay so
that vehicles hauling the animals
can be cleaned before traveling
anywhere else, reducing ’the
chance of spreading any disease.
The system is not only to test,
but it has research in place to deve
lop testing technologies in such
new areas as virology.
The state lab is to have a toxicol
ogy lab, bacteriology, microbiolo
gy lab, virology, immunology, ser
ology and the special areas and
equipment for handling animals
and tissues suspected of carrying
potentially dangerous disease.
That’s for the protection of the
lab workers as well. In fact, work
ers are being offered a voluntary
rabies vaccination. Dr. Card said
that during the time of the vaccina
tion. blood is to be collected from
each worker to serve as a back
ground check so that, in case of
suspected exposure to a disease, a
worker’s blood can be tested to
check against changes that would
indicate possible exposure.
The new lab system is to be truly
state-of-the art. The use of biotech
nology is planned in order to deve
lop technology to evaluate
materials.
Another small laboratory is to
be devoted almost exclusively to
testing the accuracey of the rest of
the testing procedures used.
Quality assurance and quality
control procedures are necessary
NOT
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in order to maintain a high level of
dependability on the new system.
And although the money hasn't
necessarily been allocated yet, the
lab system still needs about $2 mil
lion in equipment to bring it up to
full potential.
Air flow in the new lab is
designed so that it maintains a high
level of biosecurity. Basically the
flow of air is to be in and up, and
then through filters and out
In this way air from one lab is
not comingled with air from
another laboratory, and also no air
from any of the labs leaves the
building without first being fil
tered for possible airborne
pathogens.
The second floor of the new
state lab will be available only to
lab personnel. The main floor is to
have offices for diagnosticians, a
reference library, a conference
room, several work areas, office
equipment and instruments, and a
reception area is to be located at
the front of the building, facing the
Susquehanna River.
The main delivery access to the
laboratory is to be from around the
back of the current PDA building.
That takes advantage of the traffic
light on Cameron Street, and
allows traffic exiting the laborat
ory to use the light in order to
travel south. The current exit from
the lab site allows only a north
bound lane exit
The building itself has been
architecturally designed to compli
ment the existing PDA building.
Functionally, a 24-hour recep-
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tionist desk is to be manned at the
lab to accept cases, collect case
history, and to send material to the
appropriate lab areas.
Another area in the lab is for
storage of a large volume of lab
materials and to handle the ship
ping, receiving and sorting of
mailed materials.
It is imperative that the system
function efficiently and quickly,
according to Dr. Card. Even with
outdated equipment and its
crowded and obsolete building
design, the Summerdale lab cur
rently conducts about 500,000
tests per year, handling many tests
including many required for
export.
According to Dr. Card, increas
ing the potential for exporting agri
cultural products, especially live
animals, requires various tests,
depending on the requirements of
the importing country.
As it is, Summerdale can con
duct some of the necessary tests,
but not aU. He said it currently has
the ability to conduct about 60 to
70 percent of the tests necessary
for exporting, etc.
But many exporters have opted
to send samples to other states and
universities in order to complete a
full-range of tests instead of split
ting up, testing between labs.
“But more than that,” Card said,
“many vets were sending samples
of tissue to labs all over this country
for evaluation.”
That doesn’t allow for easy
access to animal health conditions
(Turn to Pag* A 3 9)
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