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Manitoba Health
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 and rural laboratories doing microbiological testing;
- Quality control of all diagnostic kits, microbial identification systems;
- Media preparation for rural laboratories;
- 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;
- Screening protocols for detection of antibiotic resistance including: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Vancomycin-resistant enterococci;
- Identification and typing of difficult or unusual organisms;
- Testing for respiratory organisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Bordetella pertussis, Legionella species, Corynebacterium diphtheria and Group A Beta hemolytic streptococcus; and
- Applied research and development of diagnostic methods and organism and toxin identification.
Newborn Screening and Public Health Chemistry
The Newborn Screening and Public Health Chemistry section is responsible for:
- Screening all newborn babies for phenylketonuria (PKU), galactosemia, congenital hypothyroidism, biotinidase deficiency, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and screening male infants for Duchenne's muscular dystrophy;
- Screening all maternal serum specimens for Alpha-Fetoprotein for prenatal detection of neural open-tube defects and triple testing for Down’s Syndrome risk assessment;
- Monitoring the levels of serum cholinesterase in pesticide applicators as an indicator of acute and chronic organo-phosphate and carbamate exposure; and
- Providing information, program monitoring, evaluation, referral and patient services.
For more information on newborn screening, please click here.
Serology/Parasitology
The Serology/Parasitology Section is responsible for:
- Surveillance and diagnosis of Public Health Programs, e.g., prenatal screening for syphilis, hepatitis B and rubella;
- Monitoring Western Equine Encephalitis and West Nile infections in the environment;
- Serodiagnostic testing for viral and bacterial diseases, e.g., HIV, Hepatitis, Legionella, Herpes viruses, Lyme disease, Helicobacter pylori;
- Seroprevalence surveys and vaccine efficacy studies;
- Quantitative testing of HIV blood to direct therapy;
- Detection of parasites; and
- Applied research for 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 |
750 William Avenue |
