Data from Center for Disease Control and Prevention Provide New Insights into Cholera (Building and Rebuilding: The National Public Health Laboratory…

Malaria Weekly

Data from Center for Disease Control and Prevention Provide New Insights into Cholera (Building and Rebuilding: The National Public Health Laboratory Systems and Services Before and After the Earthquake and Cholera Epidemic, Haiti, 2009-2015)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Malaria Weekly -- Investigators discuss new findings in Digestive System Diseases and Conditions - Cholera. According to news originating from Port au Prince, Haiti, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "Before the 2010 devastating earthquake and cholera outbreak, Haiti's public health laboratory systems were weak and services were limited. There was no national laboratory strategic plan and only minimal coordination across the laboratory network."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Center for Disease Control and Prevention, "Laboratory capacity was further weakened by the destruction of over 25 laboratories and testing sites at the departmental and peripheral levels and the loss of life among the laboratory health-care workers. However, since 2010, tremendous progress has been made in building stronger laboratory infrastructure and training a qualified public health laboratory workforce across the country, allowing for decentralization of access to quality-assured services. Major achievements include development and implementation of a national laboratory strategic plan with a formalized and strengthened laboratory network; introduction of automation of testing to ensure better quality of results and diversify the menu of tests to effectively respond to outbreaks; expansion of molecular testing for tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus, malaria, diarrheal and respiratory diseases; establishment of laboratory-based surveillance of epidemic-prone diseases; and improvement of the overall quality of testing."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Nonetheless, the progress and gains made remain fragile and require the full ownership and continuous investment from the Haitian government to sustain these successes and achievements."

For more information on this research see: Building and Rebuilding: The National Public Health Laboratory Systems and Services Before and After the Earthquake and Cholera Epidemic, Haiti, 2009-2015. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2017;97(4):21-27. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene can be contacted at: Amer Soc Trop Med & Hygiene, 8000 Westpark Dr, Ste 130, Mclean, VA 22101, USA (see also Digestive System Diseases and Conditions - Cholera).

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from F.J. Louis, Center Dis Control & Prevent, Div Global HIV & TB DGHT, Center Global Hlth, Port Au Prince, Haiti. Additional authors for this research include J. Buteau, J. Boncy, R. Anselme, M. Stanislas, M.C. Nagel, S. Juin, M. Charles, R. Burris, E. Antoine, C.F. Yang, M. Kalou, J. Vertefeuille, B.J. Marston, D.W. Lowrance and V. Deyde.

Keywords for this news article include: Port au Prince, Haiti, North and Central America, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Digestive System Diseases and Conditions, Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections, Diagnostics and Screening, Health and Medicine, Vibrio Infections, Epidemiology, Public Health, Cholera, Center for Disease Control and Prevention.