Fed approval sought for bioterrorism lab

Jace Radke

Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 | 9:11 a.m.

Clark County Health District officials are hoping to receive federal certification in the next two months for a $2.3 million lab that will be able to identify dangerous diseases and bioterrorism agents.

The certification from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would give Nevada two public labs capable of identifying hazardous substances and would cut from days to hours the time Clark County officials have to wait to identify possible bioterrorism agents.

The lab, located at a confidential site near the Charleston Boulevard interchange off Interstate 15, has been operating since May as a sentinel-level lab, with the same capabilities as labs at University Medical Center and other hospitals.

Sentinel labs can conduct tests to rule out whether a sample is a dangerous substance but cannot perform specialized tests to confirm exactly which hazardous substance a sample may be, Armour said.

The state health lab in Reno is currently the state's only reference-level lab, and in the past samples such as suspected anthrax found in Las Vegas in 2001 have had to be shipped to Reno for identification. Reference labs require vacuum-sealed rooms to contain dangerous materials.

Pat Armour, director of the Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory, said she planned to mail the application for CDC certification today. The CDC then contracts with a third party to ensure that the lab meets qualifications to be certified at reference level.

Once the health district's lab is certified it will join the state lab in Reno as a reference-level facility.

"We have all our equipment in place, and we're moving ahead," Armour said. "The CDC knows that it is important that we are certified, and I think they will move quickly once they receive the application."

The health district has already had an outside firm test the lab and certify it in preparation for the CDC review.

The lab was originally scheduled to open and gain certification as a reference lab at the end of last year, but construction delays pushed back the schedule.

The lab has 10 employees, including two microbiologists who have been training first responders in how to handle and collect samples of substances.