TNT: Continuing Education
Contemporary Topics on INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Third Tuesday of Each Month
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., Central Time
March 16, 2010 - February 15, 2011
A live, continuing education series avilable via webinar or audio conference
12 contact hours approved for P.A.C.E. credit through ASCLS
Link to program brochure (PDF format)
Link to Registration form (PDF format)
Contact Person: Beverly J. Brown
PROGRAM SCHEDULE:
March 16, 2010 – “An Evolution in Diagnostics, Molecular Detection of Influenza”
Nathan Ledeboer, PhD, ABMM, Associate Professor, Pathology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Musekgo, Wisconsin
This presentation will discuss molecular detection of influenza viruses and will discuss recent studies for technologies for detection of influenza as a point-of-care test.
April 20, 2010 – “Selected Cases in Clinical Disease with Mycobacterium sp & Nocardia sp”
Gerri Hall, PhD, D(ABMM), Staff Microbiologist, Cleveland Clinic, Clinical Microbiology, Cleveland, Ohio
This presentation will present four to five interesting cases that involve either Mycobacterium sp or Nocardia sp. Each case will be followed by a discussion of the epidemiology of the organism or disease that was present, methods for detection of the bacterium and pertinent information about treatment of susceptibility testing. Cases will include instances in which the laboratory was very instrumental in helping to identify an otherwise non-considered pathogen or in which the etiology is a newly described organism or disease entity.
May 18, 2010 – “Safe International Travel: Not an Oxymoron!”
Ken Zangwill, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, Director University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine (UCLA), Center for Vaccine Research, Torrance, California
This presentation will discuss several health issues related to preparing for international travel. These include personal safety, vaccinations, malaria and diarrhea prophylaxis, prophylactic interventions for children and special populations and post-travel concerns. Resources for up-to-date references will be provided.
June 15, 2010 – “Emerging Viral Disease of Zoonotic Importance: The Search for Patterns
and Predictions”
Paul Gribbs, BVSc, PhD, FRCVS, Professor of Virology, Department of Infectious Disease and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
This presentation will review recent events regarding the emergence of zoonotic viral diseases and the reasons for their emergence. The scope will be global. Particular attention will be given to influenza in several species.
July 20, 2010 – “Clostridium Difficile Testing Algorithms”
Elizabeth Marlowe, PhD, D(ABMM), Assistant Director of Microbiology and Molecular Testing, SCPMG Regional Reference Laboratories, North Hollywood, California
This program will provide an overview of clostridium difficile testing algorithms. The focus of the session will be to understand how to utilize improved technologies for diagnosis of C. difficile infections (CDI). The presentation will discuss an overview of CDI and review the current diagnostic tests. We will further look at approaches to the molecular detection of CDI. The target audience for this symposium includes a broad range of healthcare providers and medical microbiologists.
August 17, 2010 – “Emerging Resistance Trends in Gram Negative Bacteria: Implications for
Drug Therapy”
James Lewis, PharmD, ID Pharmacy Programs Manager, University Health Systems; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
Multiple drug resistant gram negative bacteria have emerged as a major therapeutic challenge in a variety of infections. Many of theses gram negative bacteria are now resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics that include many of the traditional first, second and even third line therapies. Unfortunately these bacteria are no longer confined to areas where resistance has traditionally been a significant issue and are in some circumstances appearing in outpatient infections as well. This session will provide an overview of several of the more common emerging resistance mechanisms in a variety of gram negative bacteria and potential therapeutic options for managing patients with infections due to these problematic pathogens.
September 21, 2010 – “Laboratory Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections in Pediatric and
Adolescent Patients”
Amy Leber, PhD, D(ABMM), Associate Director Clinical/Molecular Microbiology, Virology, Immunoserology, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
This presentation will be a review and update on issues relating to laboratory testing for the diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections in pediatric and adolescent patients. The organisms discussed will include Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhea, HPV and others. Emphasis will also be given to issues associated with testing young patients of STI’s including the legal aspects.
October 19, 2010 – “Update in Anaerobic Bacteriology”
Gerri Hall, PhD, D(ABMM), Staff Microbiologist, Cleveland Clinic, Clinical Microbiology, Cleveland, Ohio
Clinical disease with anaerobic bacteria continues to occur and in this day of antibiotic resistance even the anaerobes are changing their susceptibility/resistance patterns. This presentation will focus on the epidemiology of anaerobic infections in 2010, describe the best methods for collection of specimens for optimum recovery of anaerobes, define the methods for isolation of anaerobes and provide an update on the biochemical and molecular methods for their identification. Newer taxonomic changes will be provided and some time will be devoted to the discussion of current methods for susceptibility testing of anaerobes and when they should be considered.
November 16, 2010 – “A Review of Medically Relevant Corynebacterium Species and
Other Coryneforms”
Kathryn Barnard, MSC, ARM, CCM, Academic and Research Microbiologist, Canadian College of Microbiology, Head, Special Bacteriology Section, National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada
Good growing, catalase positive, aerobic or facultatively anaerobic Gram positive rods including Corynebacterium spp but also a variety of other “coryneforms” are generally difficult to identify in the clinical microbiology laboratory. This could be due to the fact that historically, these taxa were simply dismissed as contaminants and not studied further or were understudied for many years. In this presentation, situations were these taxa should be characterized to genus and species and test methods commonly used, are reviewed. Phenotypic properties as well as genetic analysis overview (if available) are provided. Strain typing methods, should an outbreak occur, are briefly described. Methods to perform antimicrobial susceptibility and some results obtained at the NML for the most commonly encountered pathogens of these groups of bacteria will be discussed.
December 14, 2010 – “The Value of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Reports for Guiding the Management of UTIs”
Janet Hindler, MCLS, MT(ASCP), F(AAM) Senior Specialist, Clinical Microbiology, University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, Los Angles, California
Uncomplicated urinary tract infections are very common and many of them are treated empirically. Nevertheless, in most clinical laboratories more antimicrobial susceptibility tests are performed on urine isolates than on isolates from any other specimen type. These are several rules unique to reporting AST results on urine isolates that clinical microbiologists should apply. This session will review reliable methods for performing AST on urine isolates and effective reporting of results. Cumulative antibiograms that provide data to help guide empiric therapy of urinary tract infections will be discussed.
January 18, 2011 – “Case Histories and Surveillance for MDRO”
Margie Morgan, PhD, Scientific Director Microbiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
Multi drug resistant organisms are taking up more and more of the microbiology laboratories time and have become a growing problem in the world of infection prevention. MDRO will be discussed and presented in a case presentation format. This session will disucss experience with serveillance and MDRO infection prevention in the hospital setting.
February 15, 2011 – “Isolation of a Biotreat Agent in the Clinical Laboratory”
Christina Egan, PhD, CBSP, Director, Biodense Laboratory, Wadsworth Center, Albany, New York
This presentation will help the participant look at the laboratory’s responsibility and how to isolate a biothreat. The participant will also learn how to select an agent in their laboratory that would involve reporting. The speaker will also look at laboratory safety and security.