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Laboratory Capacity to Handle Health Threats

Photograph of a lab worker America’s public health laboratories are the key first line of defense against disease and environmental threats.

CDC supports public health laboratories by ensuring quality of testing, and program–specific laboratory science and practice.
CDC provides technical expertise to public health and clinical laboratories across the U.S. and to ministries of health throughout the world.
CDC has laboratories and supports other U.S. and global laboratories to identify diseases, foodborne outbreaks, and biosecurity threats; protect U.S. blood supply; screen for genetic and other health risk factors; monitor health of communities, identify environmental hazards and more.

Key partner in establishing the Laboratory Response Network to respond to biological and chemical terrorism.
Coordinator of the PulseNet network of laboratories that detects foodborne Illnesses.
Coordinator of the National Laboratory Training Network, which has trained more than 200,000 public health and clinical laboratory professionals.
Identifies and stops outbreaks of contaminated food, most recently, salmonella–tainted turkey in 40 states.
Key partner in establishing African Society for Laboratory medicine to advance science and practice.