I am on call this month for our clinical microbiology laboratory, so I spent part of yesterday afternoon squinting through a microscope and scratching my head (yes, at the same time). Another Iowa lab had sent us a slide and was asking our opinion regarding the identity of a parasitic form in section. After conferring briefly with a couple colleagues and our state lab, we sent several images to the CDC DPDx team. They responded less than four hours later (about 9 pm CDC time). In cases like this (which occur all day, every day, at hospitals around the country), patients may never know that CDC laboratorians were directly involved in establishing a diagnosis. And presumably, some of those patients will receive appropriate care based upon a correct diagnosis, and recover enough strength to vote for a candidate who wants to gut the CDC budget.Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Thanks, CDC laboratories!
I am on call this month for our clinical microbiology laboratory, so I spent part of yesterday afternoon squinting through a microscope and scratching my head (yes, at the same time). Another Iowa lab had sent us a slide and was asking our opinion regarding the identity of a parasitic form in section. After conferring briefly with a couple colleagues and our state lab, we sent several images to the CDC DPDx team. They responded less than four hours later (about 9 pm CDC time). In cases like this (which occur all day, every day, at hospitals around the country), patients may never know that CDC laboratorians were directly involved in establishing a diagnosis. And presumably, some of those patients will receive appropriate care based upon a correct diagnosis, and recover enough strength to vote for a candidate who wants to gut the CDC budget.
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Great post Dan and yes, Thanks CDC!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how invisible good public health is. No one writes a New York Times article when an epidemic doesn't happen or when no one gets sick at a church picnic. Maybe we need a "Here's to the Invisible Ones" campaign for CDC like Apple's famous, Think Different campaign that began with "Here's to the crazy ones"
Imagine this with friendly faces from CDC and State or local health departments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEPhLqwKo6g