StemCell Therapy

TIFTON In March, while the Tifton area was getting hit hard with COVID-19 cases, Dr. Jessica Beier, the medical director of Southwell Laboratories and Medical Director of Quality and Patient Safety, was quarantined at home after returning from a vacation in Chile.

When I got home, I was ready to activate, Beier said. While I was gone, we had used the CDC lab, the state lab, our usual reference lab, and all those labs were becoming overwhelmed. Their turnaround times were starting to increase, and we were looking at people potentially having to wait a week to know whether they had tested positive for COVID-19. Everyone was wondering what we were going to do next, and then I was told by our employee health director that I had traveled to a country that was considered a level three risk.

I was quarantined at home, and it was really not a good time. I brought my microscope and started doing pathology from home. In the midst of all of this, I had a lot of time on my hands to think, and because I have a horse farm, I am well aware that we have a vet diagnostic lab here in Tifton thats part of UGA. I also know that this lab here does high-complexity molecular diagnostic testing because of all of the infectious disease testing they normally do on animals.

Something clicked in Beiers head. Why not partner with UGA and the lab that was right in her own backyard to meet the pandemic head on? Although she had no contacts with anyone at the diagnostic lab, she was able to find the email address for Hemant Naikare, Tifton Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Lab director and am associate professor of infectious diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine and reached out to him.

I remember Dr. Beier reaching out to me on a Saturday at the end of March, Naikare said. She wanted to know if we could assist with COVID testing, so we started correspondence the first week of April. I told her that we had the infrastructure, and we do polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which is an essential component of processing COVID-19 tests. I explained to her that we could help, but our major hurdle was CLIA.

CLIA stands for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, and for labs to process human samples, they must be registered and certified under CLIA.

One aspect of the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine and TVDILs mission is service to the state. Usually, that means aiding local livestock producers, veterinarians, or companion animal owners in south Georgia but the pandemic provided a unique situation.

I knew that these long turnaround times were a huge problem, especially here in rural Georgia, so I took this issue to my department head, Dr. Jesse Hostetter, and CVM Dean Lisa Nolan, Naikare said. Dr. Beier and Southwell were in need of support, and it was clear to me that we could help. I explained that we had the equipment needed for human testing, and we had the trained personnel. It was just a matter of getting started. With the permission and the right credentials, we could definitely help out.

The TVDIL is able to run an average of about 125 COVID-19 tests per day, many of which are sent over from Southwells drive-thru testing site, and these are processed usually within 24 hours. Most inpatients at Tift Regional Medical Center who need to be tested use a rapid test that is processed through the in-house laboratory there.

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We can run up to 270 tests per day without impacting our mission of animal testing, Naikare said. Just within the last four weeks, the TVDIL has conducted over 3,000 tests for hospitalized patients, pre-surgical patients, symptomatic patients, potentially exposed individuals, and patients and staff from various healthcare settings. Dr. Yung-Yi Mosley, an assistant professor of infectious diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine has been instrumental in getting the high-volume COVID-19 PCR testing workflow streamlined at the TVDIL lab.

While the TVDIL was originally testing only samples from Southwell, its staff has also partnered with two other local hospital systems recently: Crisp Regional Health System in Cordele and Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie.

COVID-19 molecular testing is still in high demand, so we hope to ease the burden on other testing labs in the region by providing rapid and accurate test results, Naikare said. By helping these local health systems attain a quick turnaround testing, we are able to prevent community spread in rural Georgia.

While some veterinary diagnostic labs have pivoted to test human samples and help with turnaround times for COVID-19 testing, it is still a fraction of the laboratories in the country. According to Naikare, who estimates there are at least 65 state or university veterinary diagnostic labs in the country, as of Aug. 7, there were only 18 labs that were testing human samples.

We felt that we could really contribute to human testing, and so we are ahead of the curve, Naikare said. At UGA, One Health is the term used to describe the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health. We are providing diagnostic solutions, and this is One Health in action.

I feel very lucky that we happened to be in the right town with the right lab and the right people to make this happen, Beier said. This has taken a lot of teamwork from everyone involved, and I think this shows how much people care about their community to work together and collaborate like this in a crisis. I am so grateful to all my staff at the TRMC lab who have helped to make this partnership work, and all of us at Southwell are grateful to Dr. Naikare and his entire team for everything they have done and continue to do.

Southwell is a leading health care provider serving 12 counties in south-central Georgia. Tift Regional Medical Center, the flagship hospital, is a 181-bed regional referral center offering signature services in surgery, oncology, cardiovascular care, womens health and more. Southwell comprises TRMC and the TRMC West Campus in Tifton, Southwell Medical Hospital and Southwell Health and Rehabilitation in Adel and more than 30 primary care and specialty clinics located throughout the region. Visit http://www.tiftregional.com for more information.

The UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, founded in 1946, is dedicated to training future veterinarians, conducting research related to animal and human diseases, and to providing veterinary services for animals and their owners. Research efforts are aimed at enhancing the quality of life for animals and people, improving the productivity of poultry and livestock, and preserving a healthy interface between wildlife and people in the environment they share. In addition to the DVM program, the college offers masters, Ph.D., and dual-degree programs for students who want to pursue a career in veterinary medicine or a related field, including public health and biomedical research.

Read more:
Tifton veterinary diagnostic lab pitches in with COVID-19 testing - The Albany Herald

This entry was posted on September 15, 2020 at 11:29 am and is filed under Veterinary Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |