HomeMy WebLinkAboutselect-agent-testing-and-reporting-for-clinical-laboratories-ada
Kimi Watkins-Tartt Darlene Fujii
ACPHD ACPHD
Aneeka Chaudhry
AC Health
Director
Dr. Nick Moss
AC Health
Health officer Director DCDCP Director
PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY
2901 Peralta Oaks Ct, 2nd Floor
Oakland, CA 94605
Vici Varghese, Ph.D. HCLD(ABB )
Phone (510) 382-4300
Fax (510) 382-4333
Published
12/1/2025:
SELECT AGENT TESTING AND REPORTING
For Clinical Laboratories
CCR, Title 17, Section 2505 requires laboratories to report laboratory testing results suggestive of
the following diseases of public health importance to the local health department.
Subsection (e)(1) List- Select Agent Bacterial agents
•Anthrax, human or animal (B. anthracis)
•Botulism (Cl. Botulinum toxin)
•Brucellosis, human (all Bruce/la spp.)
•Burkholderia pseudomallei and B. mallei
•Plague, human or animal (Y. pestis)
•Tularemia, human (F. tu/arensis)
Clinical labs should notify the appropriate Laboratory Response Network (LRN) laboratory
when a test request for one of the List ( e )( 1) Select Agent bacteria is made.
Before Jab work is performed on these specimens, refer to the LRN Sentinel Level A Laboratory
Clinical Microbiology Guidelines. Detailed microbiological information is given for each organism, and
the work-up flowcharts for each suspect agents should be strictly adhered to in order to rule the agent
in or out. This minimal lab work should take place only inside a Biosafety Cabinet.
When a preliminary identification of a suspected List (e)(1) Select Agent bacterium is made from a
clinical specimen, work should cease. The lab supervisor should contact their LRN Reference Lab
for guidance on confirmatory testing and submission procedures -prior to shipping the isolate. Those
procedures are as follows:
1.Call Microbial Diseases Laboratory – High Risk Pathogens Section, (510) 412-3700,
2.Call Alameda County Public Health Laboratory, (510) 382-4300, ask for Supervisor or Director
3.Provide information on the patient (including history and clinical summary)
4.Provide results of all lab tests performed on the specimen and isolate
The state Microbial Disease Laboratory (MDL) is the LRN Level B Laboratory for Select Agents.
If the suspicion is confirmed by MDL, the referring laboratory will be instructed to ship the isolate
directly to the state MDL laboratory*. This not only expedites the definitive identification of the organism,
but decreases the number of people potentially exposed to the agent.
*Shipping package must be addressed: ATTN: High Risk Pathogens Section -Microbial Diseases
Laboratory, 850 Marina Bay Parkway, Richmond, CA 94804.