Useful Information

The Public Health Laboratory tests for:

• Tuberculosis (including the QuantiFeron blood test for screening)
• Reference testing for fungal diseases
• HIV screening and confirmation testing
• Syphilis confirmation testing
• Enteric bacteriology for Salmonella, Shigella, and E. coli O157
• Malaria confirmation by blood smears examinationBordetella pertussis (Whooping Cough) detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
• Influenza detection and sub-typing by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
• Norovirus outbreak detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

Additional tests include:

• Water for microbial contamination.
• Rabies virus testing for animals that have had human contact and are at risk for carrying the rabies virus.

Diagnostic tests for communicable disease agents are available on site or through the National Laboratory Network consisting of the California State Laboratory and Center for Disease Control Laboratories.