Sentinel laboratories are mainly involved in:: (A) External Quality Assessment of laboratories, (B) Diagnosis of HIV infection, (C) Control of Bioterrorism, (D) Diagnosis of Tuberculosis
Answer is C. Because communication between clinical and public health laboratories is so critical in the post-2001 era, Centre for Disease Control (CDC) created an organizational structure whereby isolates and lines of communication flow freely among numbers. The Laboratory Response Network (LRN) was originally designed as a four-tier system. Clinical laboratories (Level A) were at the bottom of a triangle, sending specimens to a public health laboratory (level B) or Level C (state public health laboratory) for confirmation. Isolates were ultimately sent to CDC or United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USMRIID)-Level D, for archiving ang sophisticated molecular testing. This original system has now been changed to a three-tier system in which Level A laboratories are now called Sentinel laboratories; Level B & C laboratories are called Reference laboratories & Level D are called National laboratories. The main role of Sentinel Microbiology laboratories is to raise suspicion when a targeted agent is suspected in a human specimen. Detection of a possible bioterrorism event will depend on: A laboratory having an active microbial surveillance and monitoring program Vigilant technologists looking for a disease that does not occur naturally in a paicular geographic region (eg: Plague in New York city); is transmitted by an aerosol route of infection; is a single case of disease caused by an unusual agent (eg: Burkholderia mallei usually only seen in the far east); Good communication with infection control practitioners, infectious disease Physicians and local or regional public health laboratories. Ref: Bailey & Scott's Diagnostic Microbiology; 12th edition; Page: 954-955