Lelve
Gayle, executive director of the TVMDL
The
TVMDL became the state's only Bio-Safety Level 3 veterinary
diagnostic lab last year.
The Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) has long been the “CSI” agency of the animal kingdom. Scientists there use state-of-the-art technology to identify and help prevent the spread of animal diseases, especially those that could infect people.
The TVMDL’s main labs are in College Station and Amarillo, and its poultry labs are in Center and Gonzales. It is one of the largest and busiest veterinary diagnostic labs in the world. Last year, it received more than 180,000 requests for disease diagnosis from Texas animal industries and tested more than 26,000 racehorses and racing greyhounds for illegal drugs.
Now the agency, as one of five hubs in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), is strengthening its ability to respond to the unthinkable: widespread and deadly disease outbreaks that are the result of terrorism or that occur naturally but have equally devastating consequences.
“Since the fall of 2002, TVMDL has made significant progress in facilities, equipment and training of personnel for potentially catastrophic disease outbreaks,” said Lelve Gayle, executive director.
The NAHLN was established following the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Great Britain that led to the culling of 6 million cattle and a $13 billion loss for the country’s agriculture and tourism industries that year.
The NAHLN provided funding to upgrade TVMDL facilities, train diagnosticians and purchase state-of-the-art robotic equipment.
As a result, the College Station facility became the state’s only Bio-Safety Level 3 veterinary diagnostic lab last year when it opened two laboratories, totaling $1.4 million and 1,150 square feet, that are equipped to deal with the deadliest animal diseases. Several livestock and poultry diseases, including foot and mouth, have been designated diseases “of national interest” by the USDA.
“The foot and mouth disease outbreak in Great Britain was a real eye-opener to demonstrate the impact these diseases can have on the animal industries and other segments of the economy such as tourism, food supplies, transportation, environment, trade and the emotional impact on the citizens.” Gayle said.
“The laboratory at Pirbrite, England, was the world reference laboratory for foot and mouth disease and it was overwhelmed within a week. They were not prepared for the capacity required to handle such a devastating outbreak.”
TVMDL staff conduct their routine daily tests in the new labs. Each is equipped with sophisticated robotic units that can run tests on as many as 2,400 samples per 18-hour day.
In the event that an outbreak of one of these diseases occurs, the labs could be brought to full capacity within two hours. Safeguards, such as the collection and disinfection of wastewater and the filtering of air, would be put into place to prevent microorganisms from spreading beyond the lab, and technicians would have to shower and don protective clothing before entering.
“Finding enough qualified scientists is the ‘Achilles’ heel’ during any outbreak,” said Gayle. “Our diagnosticians have been trained at the USDA Plum Island FAD Laboratory for avian influenza, exotic Newcastle, foot and mouth disease, vesicular stomatitis and classical swine fever. We are in the process of training our technicians on these platforms.”
The
exective director of the TVMDL is attempting to identify a group of
about 100 trained technicians from across the A&M System to serve
as a reserve laboratory force in the event of a major outbreak.
Employee fatigue is another factor. “Trained TVMDL employees will only be able to sustain about 12 18-hour workdays in a major outbreak before fatigue begins to severely limit our testing capacity,” Gayle said.
To address these issues, Gayle is attempting to identify a group of about 100 trained technicians from across the A&M System to serve as a reserve laboratory force who could be brought to College Station and work in rotating teams during a major outbreak. Gayle believes this group could serve for at least 30 days, giving the state time to determine if additional help from the USDA is needed.
“There is still more to be done and this will be an ongoing process for the foreseeable future,” Gayle said. “But in the case of diseases such as avian flu, all the evidence suggests that an outbreak is a matter of when, not if. Being ready is the only way to safeguard our state’s physical and economic well-being.”