Comparison of the sensitivity of laboratory diagnostic methods from a well-characterized outbreak of mumps in New York city in 2009.

A mumps outbreak in upstate New York in 2009 at a summer camp for Orthodox Jewish boys spread into Orthodox Jewish communities in the Northeast, including New York City. The availability of epidemiologic information, including vaccination records and parotitis onset dates, allowed an enhanced analysis of laboratory methods for mumps testing. Serum and buccal swab samples were collected from 296 confirmed cases with onsets from September through December 2009.

Trap-vaccinate-release program to control raccoon rabies, New York, USA.

In 2009, an outbreak of raccoon rabies in Central Park in New York City, New York, USA, infected 133 raccoons. Five persons and 2 dogs were exposed but did not become infected. A trap-vaccinate-release program vaccinated ≈ 500 raccoons and contributed to the end of the epizootic.

Comparison of Multispot EIA with Western blot for confirmatory serodiagnosis of HIV.

Background: Recent improvements in the sensitivity of immunoassays (IA) used for HIV screening, coupled with increasing recognition of the importance of rapid point-of-care testing, have led to proposals to adjust the algorithm for serodiagnosis of HIV so that screening and confirmation can be performed using a dual or triple IA sequence that does not require Western blotting for confirmation. One IA that has been proposed as a second or confirmatory test is the Bio-Rad Multispot(®) Rapid HIV-1/HIV-2 Test. This test would have the added advantage of differentiating between HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies.

HIV type 2 in New York City, 2000-2008.

Background: Antibody cross-reactivity complicates differential diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 2 (HIV-2) using standard serologic screening and confirmatory tests for HIV. HIV type 1 (HIV-1) viral load testing does not detect HIV-2. Although HIV-2 is, in general, less pathogenic than HIV-1, it can lead to immunosuppression and clinical AIDS, and there are important differences in the selection of antiretroviral therapy for HIV-2-related immunosuppression that make it imperative to differentiate between the 2 viruses.

Laboratory response to anthrax bioterrorism, New York City, 2001.

In October 2001, the greater New York City Metropolitan Area was the scene of a bioterrorism attack. The scale of the public response to this attack was not foreseen and threatened to overwhelm the Bioterrorism Response Laboratory's (BTRL) ability to process and test environmental samples. In a joint effort with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the cooperation of the Department of Defense, a massive effort was launched to maintain and sustain the laboratory response and return test results in a timely fashion.