Performing Department
Dept. 3355
Non Technical Summary
The Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory (WSVL) is a public funded, American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD)-accredited, animal disease diagnostic laboratory operated and staffed by the Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming. The WSVL has also been a member laboratory' of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network for 10 years. The WSVL appreciates the value of NAHLN testing nationwide and has given overviews of the system to producer groups and practicing veterinarians around Wyoming. The WSVL is currently approved to test for animal diseases of importance to national security or that are considered to be of high national importance. These diseases include foot and mouth disease, classical swine fever, vesicular stomatitis, avian influenza, highly pathogenic avian influenza, and exotic Newcastle disease. Multiple individuals, professional and technical staff, in the WSVL are cross-trained and proficiency-tested to provide these services.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory (WSVL) is a public funded, American Association of Veterinary LaboratoryDiagnosticians (AAVLD)-accredited, animal disease diagnostic laboratory operated and staffed by the Department of VeterinarySciences, University of Wyoming. The WSVL has been a member laboratory of the National Animal Health Laboratory Networkfor almost 10 years. The WSVL appreciates the value of NAHLN testing nationwide and has given overviews of the system toproducer groups and practicing veterinarians around Wyoming. The WSVL is currently approved to test for animal diseases ofimportance to national security or that are considered to be of high national importance. These diseases include avian influenzavirus, foot and mouth disease, classical swine fever, vesicular stomatitis, exotic Newcastle disease, and the transmissiblespongiform encephalopathies chronic wasting disease of wild cervids and scrapie of sheep (and goats). Multiple individuals, professional and technical staff, in the WSVL are cross-trained and proficiency-tested to provide these services.For small public-funded member laboratories in sparsely populated states, it is a challenge to maintain currency and offer acomplete menu of routine diagnostic tests for our clientele while at the same time, maintaining a commitment to the NAHLN fortesting of high impact diseases. Apart from one-time expenditures for purchase of diagnostic testing equipment andinstrumentation, major recurring annual costs are those related to 1) competitive salaries for laboratory technicians trained andproficient in NAHLN testing and 2) annual maintenance and calibration for the laboratory equipment/instruments used in theNAHLN procedures. Adequate depth in trained technical staff is necessary to ensure that demands of routine as well as NAHLNtesting are satisfied. Likewise, due to economic constraints, there is little redundancy in equipment/instruments used for themolecular diagnostic procedures required for many NAHLN tests. A commitment to ensuring that equipment/instruments areprofessionally maintained and calibrated will help guarantee the accuracy of results and avoid costly downtime due to faultyequipment/instruments in need of repairs.During the period covered by this project, we will focus on continuing to enhance our current high consequence diseaseresponse capacity. The goals for the current funded project, are to enhance our sample handling, processing and testingcapacities. The specific objectives are: #1 continued partial salary support for a technical staff member who is proficiency testedfor multiple diseases under the auspices of the NAHLN as listed above, and #2, support to defray maintenance and calibration costs for two Cepheid SmartCycler units (s/n 201300 and 201301) used for NAHLN testing.
Project Methods
Personnel in the virology, histology and regulatory sections the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory will take part in annual training and proficiency testing to perform diagnostic assay for National Animal Health Network covered diseases, including highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, swine influenza virus, Newcastle disease virus, foot and mouth disease virus, and classical swine fever virus. As part of this testing, our diagnostic equipment will be maintained and certified annually. Our efforts to educate the public, public health officials, livestock owners, and wildlife managers will include the timely delivery of diagnostic reports. Direct contact with these groups will also take place at community events such as the county fairs. As part of the project evaluation, surveillance testing census numbers and location specific evaluation of results are reported in the annual laboratory section summary.