[Emerging Infectious Diseases]                                                         
[Volume 4 No. 3 / July - September 1998]

Special Issue

Plague Diagnostic Workshop(sup 1))

May C. Chu
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Plague Diagnostic Workshop, cosponsored by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), was
held on March 8 and 12, 1998. Participants represented major laboratories
involved in plague diagnostic test implementation and development, the WHO
Collaborating Centers for Plague Research and Reference (Almaty,
Kazakhstan; Stavropol, Russia; and Fort Collins, Colorado, USA), the WHO
Collaborating Center for Yersiniosis (Paris, France), WHO headquarters, and
the Pan American Health Organization. Other participants came from Brazil,
China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Myanmar, Peru, Russia, South
Africa, Taiwan, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, and
Vietnam. From the United States, state and local public health laboratory
specialists from California and New Mexico, Naval Medical Research Unit #2,
and private industry personnel also participated.

The goals of the workshop were to assess the laboratories' capabilities to
perform plague diagnostic tests worldwide; discuss test methods; develop a
program for molecular characterization of Yersinia pestis, with emphasis on
monitoring drug resistance strains; and initiate worldwide electronic links
between laboratories. During the first session, representatives reported on
their countries' plague activities and presented results on improved and
new tests for plague. During the second session, presenters discussed
molecular methods used in typing Y. pestis and electronic methods for
linking laboratories through the Internet. Participants also met during the
International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases to discuss issues
ranging from plague diagnostic criteria to adoption of new test methods.

Recommendations were made to broaden and refine the plague laboratory
diagnostic criteria. Three working groups were created to evaluate and
develop international standards of Y. pestis-specific F1 antigen, F1
antigen-sensitized sheep red blood cells, and specific bacteriophage stock.
A fourth working group was charged with evaluating new diagnostic tests.
Guidelines and recommendations were made for molecular typing of isolates
using plasmid and protein profiling, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and
ribotyping. The workshop participants also worked toward establishing an
electronic bulletin board and soliciting support for another workshop in 2
years to certify the results of the working groups.

(sup 1)Summary of Satellite Session


Emerging Infectious Diseases
National Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA

URL: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/EID/vol4no3/ascii/chu.txt

Please note that figures and equations are not available in ASCII format; 
their placement within the text is noted by [fig] and [eq], respectively. 
Greek symbols are spelled out. The following codes are used: 
(ft) for footnote; (sup) for superscript; (sub) for subscript; 
>/= for greater than or equal to.