New health lab offers area better defense

Molly Ball

Friday, Feb. 25, 2005 | 8:54 a.m.

Southern Nevada is better prepared for everything from West Nile virus to bioterrorism thanks to the area's first-ever federally certified public health laboratory, officials said.

In a presentation to the Clark County Health District on Thursday, Community Health Director Dr. Larry Sands said the Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory was a key feature of the district's plan for coping with crises such as terror attacks or flu pandemics.

The facility was registered with the federal Centers for Disease Control's Laboratory Response Network in December, Laboratory Manager Pat Armour said. Labs in that network must meet standards for working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to respond to bioterror attacks.

The lab is scheduled to be inspected for its federal license next month. It is southern Nevada's only Biosafety Level 3 lab.

Before the lab opened this year, samples of suspicious substances or unknown bacteria had to be sent elsewhere, usually to Nevada's other public health lab in Reno.

Having such a facility in Las Vegas is a boon, "not just in terms of turnaround time, but also in having that expertise on site," Sands said.

"Public health laboratories throughout America were in a very sorry state when 9/11 hit," Armour said. Many had no computers or communication with other labs.

Federal funding of $2 million in 2002 enabled the southern Nevada facility to be created out of a converted 5,000-square-foot storage shed on the site of the Clark County Health District.

However, federal funds for the lab have declined, Armour said. The lab received $1.3 million in 2003 and $1 million in 2004, and there are rumors of further cuts, she said.

Now the lab processes about 250 HIV tests and 20 salmonella samples per month. In addition to confirming a disease, the lab narrows it down to a subtype, so that potential outbreaks can be tracked.

The lab has also distributed a new sample collection kit to area first responders and has trained more than 200 of them on dealing with potentially dangerous substances.