Staff get training on DVBS
PNGIMR Laboratory Manager, Mr Matthew Omena, reports on the ‘Training in Dried Venous Blood Spot (DVBS) Testing for Measles Antibody,’ that was conducted at PNGIMR, Goroka.
 |
(L-R) Sauli Bebes, linda pui, hannah aole, doris manog, mition yoannes, jacinta kono, dr michaela riddel, john wauwe and matthew omena take time out of their training to get a photo shoot. |
PNG is committed to measles elimination by 2012, however, wild measles continues to circulate throughout the country.
The Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory(VIDRL) is working with the PNG Central Public Health Laboratories (CPHL) in Port Moresby, and the PNG Country Office of the World Health Organization, to introduce a simpler, low-cost approach to measles surveillance involving DVBS testing for measles antibody.
Burnet PNG, through its project on measles response, is supporting an addition to this activity that will enable the transfer of this technique to the PNGIMR laboratories in Goroka and Madang to enable this technique to be used in the serological surveys for research activities.
This is a complement to the CPHL’s role in the routine surveillance.
A sero-survey of measles and rubella antibodies is currently being planned as a joint activity of PNGIMR and Burnet later this year.
The staff from Madang who were involved in the training were: John Wauwe and Doris Manog and from Goroka: Jacinta Kono, Mition Yoannes, Sauli Bebes, Henah Aole and Matthew Omena.
The consultant engaged by the PNG Country Office of WHO to visit PNG was Dr Michaela Riddel from VIDRL.
Dr Riddel is responsible for developing the DVBS technique and her trip to PNGIMR to transfer the technique to our laboratories was funded by Burnet Institute.
On the first day of the training Dr Riddel did presentations on rationale for surveillance of measles in PNG, collection, packaging and transport of DVBS samples for detecting measles/rubella antibody, general laboratory safety as well as trouble shooting for ELISA.
Then the participants did hands on practises on collecting dried venous blood spot from one another and the sample was left to dry overnight.
On the second day, the participants split up into four groups with two groups performing measles enzyme immunoassay for detecting measles specific IgG while the other two groups did immunoassay for detecting rubella specific IgG using the DVBS collected the previous day.
The immunoassay used was the Dade Berhring Enzygnost Anti-Measles/Rubella IgG Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) and is a commercial test kit available from Dade Behring.
The laboratory equipment required for the EIA were shaker, 370C incubator, 40C fridge, plate washer, plate reader, multi-channel pipettes and single-channel pipettes.
The sensitivity and specificity for results from DVBS is good. It is simple and cost effective in terms of packaging, transporting and storage.
There is no need for a cool chain to be maintained during transport. The samples can be stored at 40C for as long as possible with no effect on the quality and the result. The DVBS can be used for PCR.
Dr Riddel also demonstrated to the participants on how to carry out quality assurance check on pipettes.
Depending on how often the pipettes are used, they can be cleaned and calibrated 6 monthly or annually.
At the end of the training we discussed with Dr Riddel on capacity building for DVBS testing at PNGIMR.
We requested for the supporting institution (Burnet Institute) to provide PNGIMR with plate washer, plate reader and possibly an incubator for effecting the transfer of the DVBS technique to PNGIMR.
The participants would like to acknowledge the Director of PNGIMR, Professor Peter Siba for endorsing their participation at the training workshop and would also like to thank Dr Michaela Riddel for her willingness to come to IMR to build IMR capacity for DVBS testing.
| Copyright 2007 PNGIMR. | IMR Nius is produced by IMR's Communications Department. Contact Us |