The US has improved its response to public health emergencies, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report released this month. State public health labs have strengthened their efforts in identifying and reporting disease-causing bacteria. In 2010, a total of 142 Laboratory Response Network (LRN) labs could test for biological agents, up from 135 in 2009. LRN labs improved their ability to detect and quantify chemical agents, increasing the average total number of methods demonstrated from 6.7 in 2009 to 8.9 in 2010. In an exercise to indicate response to a large-scale chemical emergency, labs improved the average amount of time to process and report samples from 98 hours in 2009 to 56 hours in 2010. In 2010, 38 states submitted at least 90% of E. coli test results to a national database of bacteria “fingerprints” within the allotted time of four business days of receiving samples, up from 32 in 2009. The 12 states that did not cited lab workforce issues for the delay. Other challenges affecting public health departments’ response to incidents include budget cuts and a growing number of public health risks.

Source: CDC