Methods for Advanced Disease Tracing
The diagnostic capacity for rare infections available at SMI is of great importance for the detection and control of infectious diseases.
The number of infections caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics continues to grow. The spread of gastroenteric viruses attracts increased attention. Climatic changes may have an impact on the spread of exotic viruses such as West Nile fever virus.
New methods in molecular biology have resulted in to major progress in epidemiological surveillance and enables sophisticated tracing of infections such as tuberculosis, HIV, hepatitis, and measles.
Special Laboratory Facilities
As mentioned above, KCB includes a P4-laboratory opened in 2000, which is managed as a joint project between the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Research Institute of the Swedish Armed Forces and SMI.
It constitutes an important resource in national disease control and prevention. The P4-laboratory is the only laboratory of its kind in the Nordic countries and one of only a handful in Europe. It has made it possible to extend the frontiers of virus research in Sweden by allowing the handling of agents such as those causing hemorr-hagic fever.
In addition to the P4-laboratory SMI has 7 modern P3-laboratories. They serve as a local and national resource for laboratory work with pat-hogens such as HIV, tularemia, Myco-bacterium tuberculosis and anthrax.
Rapid Diagnostics
SMI has access to newly developed methods, e.g. microarray, a technique that makes it possible to “fingerprint” the organisms causing disease. It allows a rapid gathering of information concerning genes that may be coupled to disease progression.
Quality Control
Quality control plays an important part in the activities of SMI as an accredited laboratory. The efforts include external quality control support to clinical microbiology laboratories, development of control systems within SMI’s own laboratories as well as quality control of different diagnostic methods.
Uppdaterad 2007-10-04 12:47