Staff Profile: Toxicology Technician Serves in Missouri Army National Guard

2nd Lt. Rhys Sitz is a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) officer in the Missouri Army National Guard. He currently serves as a heavy decontamination platoon leader in the 3175th Chemical Company in Bridgeton, a position he has held since commissioning as an officer in 2020. Sitz is currently serving his 10th year in the Missouri Army National Guard after first enlisting in 2011 and serving in the 138th Forward Support Company. He joined the VMDL as a senior research specialist in toxicology in August 2021.

How do you balance your duties at the VMDL with your military service?

It is a challenge balancing my National Guard duties with my VMDL position, but the VMDL and my section have been very supportive in working with my drills and other obligations. I recently got back from a four-month long military course during my training period, and everyone has been very helpful in helping me get back up to speed quickly.

VMDL Policy Update: Owner Pre-Payment

Starting May 23, 2022, the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (VMDL) started requiring a completed payment agreement form and an accompanying $60 pre-payment deposit to receive and provide diagnostic testing services on owner submitted accessions. Note: This policy will not affect billing practices for our veterinary clients; however, please help us educate owners who drop off directly at the VMDL.

VMDL will provide owners with an invoice upon completion of diagnostic accession work. The pre-payment balance will be applied toward the total invoice balance. Any remaining balance must be paid to the VMDL within 30 days of the invoice date.

For questions about this policy, please contact the VMDL business office.

New VMDL Fee Guide Coming Soon! Pricing Effective Aug. 1, 2022

It is time to recycle your old fee guide and replace it with our new booklet for 2022-2023. In addition to pricing adjustments, we have made the following changes to our service offerings. Please take a moment to review the testing changes below.

Tests Added:

Tests Discontinued:

If you have any questions about our new fee guide, please feel free to call the laboratory at 573-882-6811. We strive to provide high quality diagnostics at a reasonable price.

VMDL Associate Director Gayle Johnson, DVM, PhD, Wins Dean’s Impact Award

At her retirement party this summer, Gayle Johnson was awarded the Dean’s Impact Award for her many years of exceptional service.

A nomination letter for Johnson reads: “Over her long career, Dr. Johnson has made invaluable contributions to the College of Veterinary Medicine and advancement of scientific knowledge. She provides a solid foundation in pathology to the VM2s through her lectures in the general pathology course. She continues to build upon that foundation through her instruction of VM3 and VM4s during their diagnostics rotation. Her dedication to teaching veterinarians does not end once they graduate, as she is also instrumental in educating residents. She contributes to weekly rounds for clinicians and students in neuropathology, oncology, and Joint Pathology Center Wednesday Slide Conference. Outside of her role as an educator, Dr. Johnson is also an accomplished investigator. Her numerous publications have advanced veterinary knowledge of neuropathology, infectious disease, immunology, and oncology.”

UNDER THE SCOPE – SUMMER 2022

The MU Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory would like to thank you for your support and wish you a safe Memorial Day.  The holiday will slightly alter our normal business hours.  Please make note of the closure date below.

Holiday Hours
Monday May 30^th  – Closed

Emergencies

For emergency necropsy cases, please call the on-duty students at (573) 864-7160.  For other types of emergencies, please call the lab director, Dr. Shuping Zhang, at (573) 529-4691.

How to Ship a Package to Ensure Your Package Has Arrived Safely During Reduced Holiday Hours

To help ensure your shipment isn’t delayed when submitting via FedEx/UPS courier delivery, please send to:

Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab
901 E. Campus Loop
Columbia, MO 65211

Or, if submitting via US Post Office; use the following PO Box address:

MU VMDL
PO Box 6023
Columbia, MO 65205

A Message from the Director

Welcome to the MU VMDL Spring 2022 Newsletter! First, I would like to introduce our newest anatomical pathologist, Annabelle Burnum-Looney, DVM. Dr. Burnum received her BA degree from Washington University in St. Louis and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. After completing a residency program at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, she taught veterinary pathology at Tufts University. We are excited to have Dr. Burnum as a part of our team!

We have made giant strides in chronic wasting disease (CWD) diagnosis and research. From November 2021 to March 2022, the VMDL tested more than 30,000 wild deer CWD samples. We have been collaborating with five other diagnostic labs and the MU College of Engineering to develop new CWD diagnostic assays and tools such as RT-QuIC and MEM Biosensor. To support the captive cervid industry, we offer CWD IHC on captive cervid samples.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been confirmed in 34 states, including Missouri. On March 3, the VMDL detected the first case of HPAI (H5/N1) in a flock of commercial broiler chickens in Stoddard County, Missouri. Since then, the VMDL has been testing samples from commercial flocks and wild birds. To complete the testing on the same day, our Molecular Diagnostics faculty and staff frequently work late evenings and weekends. We are so proud of them!

Finally, the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians Accreditation Site Visit Team audited the VMDL from May 1 to May 4. I am cautiously optimistic that we will be accredited again.

As always, your feedback is important to us because the VMDL is here to serve all of you and the state of Missouri. Stay cool and safe!

Dr. Shuping Zhang
Director, Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory
Professor, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology

It’s Tick Season!

With the recent warm weather, Missouri’s ticks are alive and well in the tall grass. With these important vectors out questing for a blood meal, the diseases they transmit will be on the rise. The MU VMDL offers several testing options for tick-borne diseases in veterinary patients.

PCR Tick Panel* (EDTA blood): Anaplasma spp., Borrelia burgdorferi, Ehrlichia spp., and Rickettsia spp.

Tick Panel Titer IFA* (Serum or clotted blood): Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Borrelia burgdorferi, Ehrlichia canis, and Rickettsia rickettsii.

*Note: any of the pathogens listed can be tested for individually.

Since positive titers can indicate previous exposure and not necessarily active infection, PCR is often the better choice to make a diagnosis in a clinically ill patient. However, paired titers can be used to diagnose active infection and should be considered if the patient has already been treated with antimicrobials prior to testing.

The VMDL also offers Anaplasma marginale testing by PCR and ELISA. Anaplasmosis continues to be an important disease of Missouri’s beef cattle. Our own Dr. Rosalie Ierardi has an ongoing research project in this area of study. If you or your clients are interested in participating, free ELISA testing for up to 15 head per herd is available. A simple questionnaire must be completed to take advantage of the free testing. Please contact Dr. Ierardi at ierardir@missouri.edu for more information.

VMDL Policy Update: Owner Pre-Payment

Starting Monday May 23, 2022, the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (VMDL) will require a completed payment agreement form and an accompanying $60 pre-payment deposit to receive and provide diagnostic testing services on owner-submitted accessions. Note: this policy will not affect billing practices for our veterinary clients, however, please help us educate owners who drop off directly at the VMDL.

VMDL will provide owners with an invoice upon completion of diagnostic accession work. The pre-payment balance will be applied toward the total invoice balance. Any remaining balance must be paid to the VMDL within 30 days of the invoice date.

For questions about this new policy, please contact the VMDL business office.

Avian Influenza Update

The MU VMDL Molecular Section continues to collaborate with our regulatory partners at USDA and MDA to provide accurate and timely test results for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). To date, there have been nine affected premises in our state.

Confirmed detections and numbers of birds affected (by state) can be found here.

To continue reading about the outbreak in Missouri poultry and the VMDL’s role, click here.

Need Supplies?

Just a reminder that the VMDL can supply your clinic with packaging and shipping items, as well as media and swabs for molecular and bacteriology testing. For a complete list of the supplies available and current pricing, please reference the current version of our order form, which can be found on our website.

Unfortunately, FedEx has imposed limits on the number of FedEx Clinical Paks they will provide us. As a result, we must limit your orders of FedEx Clinical Paks to 10 per order, to ensure adequate supply for all. We apologize for the inconvenience.v

Avian Influenza (AI) is caused by an influenza type A virus which can infect poultry. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is a serious disease and requires rapid response because it is highly contagious and often fatal to poultry. The goal is to quickly contain and eradicate the disease, protecting our poultry industry, and in turn, the American consumer.

Download more information from the Missouri Department of Agriculture.