August 22, 2006
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar Tours National Center for Disease Control
On Wednesday, August 23, 2006, U.S. Senator Richard Lugar and Minister of Health Lado Chipashvili will tour the Epidemiological Monitoring Station and Repository for Infectious Disease at the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
Senator Lugar is in Georgia as part of a five country trip. While in Georgia, the Senator is visiting facilities built and equipped operated under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program was created under the Nunn-Lugar Act which provides materials, services and expertise to assist countries in identifying and controlling dangerous biological, chemical and nuclear materials. The Nunn-Lugar Act was authored by Senator Lugar and former Senator Sam Nunn in 1991.
The Epidemiological Monitoring Station (EMS) at the NCDC in Tbilisi is one of the prototype stations of Georgia’s Threat Agent Detection and Response (TADR) system. TADR is a system of early detection, diagnosis, response, and reporting of critical information on infectious disease outbreaks. The system is comprised of a network of diagnostic laboratories located throughout Georgia. The EMS at the NCDC is the second level of TADR system hierarchy. After rapid diagnosis to prevent the spread of disease outbreaks, the EMS provides data and pathogen strains to the Central Reference Laboratory where the pathogens can be analyzed, confirmed and safely stored.
As a result of Nunn-Lugar funding, the NCDC contains epidemiological laboratories furnished with state-of-the-art equipment. The laboratories meet international biosecurity, biosafety, and environmental protection standards. The NCDC EMS staff includes epidemiologists and laboratory technicians, who have previous experience with biological pathogens of public health importance. The staff are trained and certified to use the lab equipment and adhere to high international biosecurity and biosafety standards.
The National Center for Disease Control facility is similar to that of the U.S. Center for Disease Control. The NCDC is an important tool for guarding public health in Georgia, the Caucasus and internationally. It is part of a global web of labs and detection facilities that are cable of identifying and analyzing dangerous diseases that threaten humanity. The NCDC is one of the only facilities in the Caucasus capable of identifying and reacting to cases of Avian Influenza, anthrax and other dangerous pathogens in the human population. This capability allows Georgia to contribute substantially to regional and world health.
Over $30 million has been invested in Goergia’s capability to rapidly diagnose disease outbreaks and secure pathogens.
Over $60 million will be invested in the construction of a central reference lab in Alekseyevka to provide state of the art safety and security to store and carryout research on diseases.
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