Recent Events
International Leptospirosis Society President
Laboratory Equipment for St. Joseph Rural Hospital, Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea
WHO, Global Consultation on Universal Access to Safe Blood Transfusion
NRL Collaborating with the Canadian Society for International Health
International Leptospirosis Society President
Dr Roderick Chappel, the NRL's Quality Manager, became the President of the International Leptospirosis Society (ILS) on 23 September. He succeeded the former President, Dr Rudy Hartskeerl, who is head of the Leptospirosis Reference Laboratory, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam. The transition took place at the Sixth Scientific Meeting of ILS, in Cochin, India.
Rod has a long-standing interest in leptospirosis, which is a zoonosis caused by spirochaete bacteria of the genus Leptospira. Leptospirosis causes human infections globally, and is responsible for many deaths, especially in tropical developing countries with high rainfall. It also affects many species of animals, with impact on wildlife and on livestock health and production. Rod conducted research into leptospirosis, especially in pigs, for eighteen years at the former Victorian Institute for Animal Science. He discovered a new species of the leptospiral bacterium, Leptospira fainei, now known to occur throughout the world. At the NRL, he coordinates, in collaboration with two overseas laboratories, the International Proficiency Testing Scheme for the Leptospirosis Microscopic Agglutination Test.
Rod is to serve as ILS President for four years.
Inquiries: Roderick Chappel roderick@nrl.gov.au
Laboratory Equipment for St. Joseph Rural Hospital, Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea
Staff from the NRL had the pleasure of meeting Peter Kuman from St. Joseph Rural Hospital, Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea at the 2007 NRL workshop. We were enthralled to hear about the work Peter does in a small laboratory in rural New Guinea about a days walk from Mt Hagen. Peter also kept us entertained with his story about how he travelled from Brisbane to the NRL workshop, inland from the Gold Coast, without any Australian currency. A significant achievement!
With the support of SNOWY MOUNTAINS ENGINEERING CORPORATION (SMEC), the NRL have been able to facilitate the purchase of much needed laboratory equipment for Peter's laboratory.
This was a team effort at the NRL. Helen Hasler coordinated approaches to SMEC, Louie Opasinov arranged the purchase of equipment, Frank Torizillo facilitated the shipment of the goods (4 very large boxes), and I guess I had the idea in the first place!
I have just heard from Peter. He has received all the equipment in good condition and says how much he appreciates our efforts and assistance.
Thank-you everyone.
Sally Land
WHO, Global Consultation on Universal Access to Safe Blood Transfusion
An informal consultation on Universal Access to Safe Blood Transfusion was held in Ottowa, Canada from 9th to 11th June. The consultation was organised by WHO Essential Technologies to coincide with World Donor Day. There were a large number of those involved in transfusion safety from at least 50 countries. There were two notable quotes that I recorded:-
NRL has been a WHO Collaborating Centre since 1985 and is responsible for the quality assurance of blood borne virus testing in many blood services. This meeting was another opportunity to network further with some of those involved in NRL's quality programmes. Elizabeth Dax participated in a break out group which discussed "Ensuring 100% Quality Assured Testing of Donated Blood for Transfusion-Transmissible Infectiouns and Blood Group Serology." The recommendations to WHO (please note they are still in draft ) were:-
- Poor solutions for poor facilities or people are not acceptable either nationally or internationally.
- Safety is doubt - monitoring the doubt is quality assurance.
1. Promote and support the implementation of WHO guidelines on the screening of donated blood for transfusion-transmissible infections (TTI).
2. Support the development of national reference centres for blood transfusion services.
3. Facilitate the provision of external quality assessment for screening for blood group serology and TTIs and advocate and support the establishment of national external quality assessment schemes.
4. Develop global and regional mechanisms for the evaluation of blood group serology and TTI test kits and reagents and promote the establishment of national evaluation mechanisms.
NRL Collaborating with the Canadian Society for International Health
NRL is collaborating in a project managed and funded by the Canadian Government through the Canadian International Development Agency. The present project is titled "Positive Children Project in Ukraine". Elizabeth Dax and Wayne Dimech participated in a week-long course within this project which was designed to bring information to the 100 or so participants about coordination between areas of health care including the use of laboratories. NRL has been assisting in developing the laboratory side of the project and introducing participants from the laboratory area to quality assurance and the use of quality controls and EDCNet. Elizabeth Dax delivered a plenary address on laboratory systems and introduced the laboratory-based group to testing strategies. Wayne Dimech spent the rest of the week with the group explaining about QC and EDCNet in the context of quality assurance.