The Task Force publishes the
Polio Lab Network Quarterly UPDATE on behalf of WHO and assists
in the building and improving of the WHO Global Polio Laboratory Network.
Nationwide Survey of Biomedical Laboratories (PPT)
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This PowerPoint presentation may be used by anyone who needs to explain the national survey.
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Laboratory Containment of Wild Polioviruses
The Task Force is under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to assist
in planning and implementing a US Plan of Action for Laboratory Containment of Wild Polioviruses.
With the eradication of polio now in sight, the laboratories of the world may soon be the only
source of wild polioviruses. Prevention of inadvertent transmission of polioviruses from the
laboratory to the community is crucial.
Absolute laboratory containment can never be assured. Questions of intentional or unintentional
noncompliance will always remain. Effective laboratory containment, however, is a realistic goal.
The first steps toward that goal are the development and implementation of a national laboratory
survey and the creation of a national inventory of all laboratories retaining specimens in which
wild polioviruses may be present. The survey will alert laboratories to the impending eradication
of polio, encourage the disposition of all unneeded infectious and potentially infectious materials,
and establish a national inventory of laboratories retaining such materials. Laboratories on the
inventory will be kept informed of polio eradication progress and notified, when necessary, to
implement biosafety requirements appropriate for the risk of working with such materials. The
anticipated date of project completion is the late 2003.
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To learn more about
the WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative,
go directly to the
WHO home page.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Walter Dowdle, PhD, Consultant to WHO
Address:
Global Polio Eradication Program
750 Commerce Drive, Suite 400
Decatur, Georgia 30030
phone: 404.371.0466
fax: 404.371.1087
email: polio@taskforce.org
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