Maria Christina Balacania

NEWS ARTICLES: Hawaii State Health Department Approves First Lab For Testing Medical Marijuana The medical use of Cannabis or “Marijuana” has constantly gained mixed reviews over the years. But for private laboratory Steep Hill Hawaii, it’s a milestone to earn a provisional certificate from the state Department of Health. This authorizes them to test cannabis products specifically from the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries, caregivers, and medical patients. Steep Hill Hawaii based on Oahu was the first among the three laboratories that was granted certification. Chris Whelen, chief of Hawaii’s Department of Health Laboratories Division, mentioned that certification requires rigorous attention to detail and nonstop refining. The DOH aims to warrant product and patient safety. Furthermore, the private-owned lab positively displayed the capacity to test medical cannabis in compliance with the law according to Hawaii’s Health department. Initially, eight medical marijuana dispensary licensees should have sold medical cannabis products more than a year ago. However, not one of those dispensaries were successful in operating for business because none of the testing labs earned certification. Despite that challenge, Steep Hill Hawaii’s certification is still great news for several cannabis-dependent patients. Dr. Paul Klink of the Honolulu Wellness Center is happy about this landmark in Hawaii’s health system. He has several patients anticipating for the medicine to be available legally. The challenge would be for patients who cannot grow the plant themselves or even have the option of someone to grow it for them. So how does the process go about? Initially, samples submitted to the laboratory will undergo testing for heavy metals which include cadmium, arsenic, lead and mercury. This presents a blockade. Other parts of the US do not do testing for heavy metals. It’s distinct to Hawaii. Locals bring cannabis grown within the area. This means they use lava rock to grow the plant. Consequently, lava rock absorbs heavy metals. Heavy metals is a new thing since it does not manifest as much on the mainland. So samples submitted undergo a battery of tests. This includes testing for microbes and other pesticides which could take up time up to four days. The DOH then runs a final inspection. Finally, the dispensaries collect the product and sells it. A process needs to have a reliable system. The seed-to-sale computer tracking system will be enforced to make sure the process is correctly implemented. Alternatively, the dispensaries will be given sole freedom to decide how to utilize the product. Keith Ridley, Chief of DOH’s Office of Healthcare Assurance also highlighted that for them not to lose anything, they will track the chain of custody from dispensary to the lab. Two more private independent laboratories are working closely with the State Laboratories Division team to finally obtain certification. They are in active cooperation in terms of submitting and resubmitting their validation studies to eventually attain the said certificate. Bacteria Responsible For Mystery Epidemic In Icelandic Horses Discovered Animal Health Trust (AHT) researchers partnered with British and Icelandic research and veterinary institutions to identify the bacteria that cause an epidemic of respiratory disease. The disease characterized by coughing and nasal discharge not only infected Iceland’s native horse population, but also dogs, cats, and humans. The unexpected outbreak started many years ago. This respiratory epidemic began in early 2010 and immediately spread within weeks affecting 77,000 Icelandic horses. Consequently, this led to a self-imposed ban on their export causing significant economic cost to the country. Where did all these start? Experts suspected a viral cause due to the speed that the disease spread to the horses. Initially, only Streptococcus zooepidemicus consistently came up based on several investigations from researchers of the University of Iceland. The subjects were coughing horses and rare fatal cases of this infection. On the other hand, this bacterium is also common in healthy horses. This presented another question for experts. Sigríður Björnsdóttir, DVM, PhD, of the MAST Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority, gathered information from owners and veterinarians to establish an epidemiological network. This network enabled her to come up with an equine rehabilitation center. Ideally, horses in this center exercise in a water treadmill. This machine then transmits the disease when horses ingest water. The disease undergoes incubation as soon as the horses return home. Breaking through the unknown Scientists from the AHT and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, England teamed up to identify the culprit of this breakout. Investigations kicked off. Simon Harris, BSc, PhD, and senior staff scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute shared that they sequenced the DNA from 257 samples of bacteria from infected animals and people. With this done, they discovered ST209. ST209 is strain of S. zooepidemicus. The one specific strain from the samples and the likely culprit of the epidemic. In addition, the strain was also found in a human case of blood poisoning. It was also recovered from a coughing horse in Sweden and an abdominal abscess in a Finnish horse trainer. This investigation to discover the cause of this epidemic is a milestone. For the first time, the use of DNA sequencing displayed the possibility to identify endemic strains of bacteria. This also helps distinguish them from the cause of an epidemic infection. To note, Iceland is a country free of all major equine infectious diseases. This started during the ban on the importation of horses into the country in 1882. On the other hand, there are still strict biosecurity measures in place to protect Icelandic horses. This breed is susceptible to any new bacteria or virus that crosses the border. What lies ahead? Although the cause was identified, Andrew Waller, BSc, PhD, head of bacteriology at the AHT added there are still other plausible means how the strain entered Iceland. Another interesting information about the bacteria is their survival mode. The bacteria can stay alive outside a horse for a week or so. This means the import of contaminated equipment or clothing could also be the likely route of ST209 into Iceland. There is also the possibility that the strain infected a human host that traveled to the country. Even before the strain spread back to a horse that triggered the epidemic. Overall, Waller delights in his contribution in uncovering the likely identity of the epidemic on horses and people. There is evidence that even endemic strains of S. zooepidemicus also causes cases of respiratory diseases in Icelandic horses. This shows that this group of bacteria causes more clinical problems in horses compared to its initial findings. He also hopes that veterinarians around the world will improve disease control precautions to prevent similar epidemics through the awareness they started to spread in relation to ST209.