IF assigned by the World Health Organization (WHO), officials say Jamaica stands ready to assist other territories with testing for Zika virus now that the virology laboratory in the Department of Microbiology at the University Hospital of the West Indies is equipped and certified to test for the mosquito-borne virus.

With the upgraded lab now ready, Jamaica no longer has to send samples of suspected cases to the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) — the public health agency for the region — to test for the Zika virus (ZIKV).

Responding to questions after Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton was given a tour of the upgraded facility on Friday, Professor Monica Smikle, who oversees the National Influenza Centre (NIC) that is also housed at the virology laboratory, said if WHO asks, the lab is prepared.

Following the $10-million upgrade, the lab is now equipped to test for dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses.

The equipment, described by the Ministry of Health as “state-of-the-art real-time thermal equipment”, was acquired with the capacity to test 96 samples and controls within two hours. The machine is also said to be capable of testing multiple pathogens in one sample.

Zika virus, which usually causes mild symptoms of a low fever, headaches, and joint pain, has been spreading rapidly throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. So far, Jamaica has only recorded one case of the virus and that patient has since recovered.

However, Jamaica is being proactive and with the capacity to now test samples locally, it is expected that the turnaround time for results will be significantly reduced.

“With these new facilities here, the turnaround time could be anywhere from a few days to a week depending on what you are testing for,” Dr Tufton said after the tour.

Previously, samples sent to Trinidad would take anywhere between a few weeks to a few months to be returned. In fact, Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Winston De La Haye said that over a two-month period, of the 254 samples sent to CARPHA to be tested, the results for 127 have returned.

“At which point, it would have been very difficult to treat cases, so it would definitely create higher risk for those who were infected or felt they were infected,” Dr Tufton pointed out.

After touring the facility Dr Tufton said he is pleased with the improvement that was done to upgrade the services of the lab.

The new health minister also stated that with some improvement in human capacity and additional machinery, the turnaround time for testing could be further reduced.

“That is something I am going to look at with the technocrats at the ministry for the next flu season,” Dr Tufton said.

While Professor Smikle said that the difference in cost to test samples locally, instead of sending them to CARPHA to be tested, “is not a lot”, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization representative to Jamaica, Dr Noreen Jack, explained the role of CARPHA in the region.

“CARPHA provides support for all the Caribbean countries. PAHO has a relationship with CARPHA, so when ZIKV entered the Caribbean, CARPHA was the designated lab to provide the testing for the Caribbean,” Dr Jack said.

The PAHO representative went on to say that PAHO has subsequently been supporting and helping to build capacity for in-country testing.

“So, for example, here in Jamaica we had a consultant virologist help with support, in terms of the capacity-building, but also that took place for Barbados and also Suriname in the context of the Caribbean,” she said.

“For other Caribbean countries, of course, CARPHA will continue to do sample testing, however, you could imagine that testing for the whole Caribbean would be a problem with a limited staff as well, and therefore what happened is that you had a delay in getting results,” she continued. “So I think beyond cost, there is the cost in time, which is most important in terms of getting results in a timely manner to make a decision about the diagnosis related to the patient.”

The virology laboratory, which is the national virology reference lab as it is the only one that offers viral culture and houses the NIC, is a full service laboratory that performs a range of diagnostic services for the detection and monitoring of a variety of viral infections. These include: respiratory infections such as influenza, rubella and measles virus as well as measles; central nervous system infections such as herpes simplex and poliovirus; sexually transmitted infections such as HIV and herpes simplex virus; and gastrointestinal infections such as rotavirus and enterovirus.

The 10-million upgade was done through resources from the National Health Fund (NHF) with support from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).