[Music] The infectious disease laboratory
monitors our communities for pathogens that make us sick. We track common
diseases, detect and investigate outbreaks, monitor for emerging diseases
and prepare for public health emergencies. Most of our work deals with
testing samples sent to us from hospital labs across Minnesota. When you see a
doctor because you are sick, you sometimes submit a sample to help find
out what is causing you to feel ill. Your sample may be sent to the infectious
disease l
aboratory for further testing. Depending on the sample, we may test for
an antibiotic resistant super bug, vaccine preventable diseases like
measles and the flu, rabies or food borne diseases like salmonella. The data we
collect from testing samples are used in a variety of ways, such as
determining what antibiotics will or will not work when treating an illness
caused by an antibiotic resistant superbugs or picking the right flu
vaccine for the upcoming year. Sometimes the infectious disease la
b receives
samples from different people that all contain the same unique pathogen, like a
certain strain of E. coli. When an outbreak of disease like this occurs, we
work with disease detectives called epidemiologists at the department of
health to investigate and plan a public health intervention. For an outbreak of a
foodborne illness like E.coli, that intervention might be working with the
Department of Agriculture to help find the food that's making people sick and
continuing to test sample
s from those who were sick, to ensure they won't get
others sick. In some cases outbreaks and emerging diseases turn into public
health emergencies, when that happens the infectious disease lab responds by
working with the Centers for Disease Control the department of health and
clinical partners to determine the best testing strategy for samples, to find out
how many people are sick and develop the best plan to limit or stop the spread of
the disease. Every day, the goal of the infectious
disea
se lab is to detect and prevent the spread of disease so that we can keep
Minnesota's communities healthy. [Music]
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