Category Archive: Article

At CMPT, we take a number of measures to ensure that laboratories understand that we take our responsibility for proficiency testing (also known as External Quality Assessment) as both core and critical: We ensure that we maintain our quality and…

In December 3-8, 2016, Dr. Noble got the opportunity to visit the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) conference in Cape Town, South Africa.  ASLM was first created only 5 years ago, and hosts a conference every 3 years. In…

Quinolones are a class of antibiotic with broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. They are well absorbed orally and have good tissue penetration making them popular agents for the treatment of a wide variety of infections. They are synthetic agents rather than natural…

A Biosecurity Plan must be developed by any facility that handles or stores human or animal pathogens or toxins as these pose a risk to personnel, the community, and the environment. “The purpose of a biosecurity program is to prevent…

According to the HPTA, any individual working or having access to prescribed human pathogens and toxins or Security Sensitive Biological Agents (SSBAs) must have an HPTA Security Clearance. An HPTA Security Clearance is conducted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police…

The detection of a protein then called lysozyme in 1921 by Alexander Fleming marked the beginning of the discovery of penicillin in 1928 and led to its mass production for therapeutic use in the 1940s. (1) Shortly after the introduction…

The European Organization for External Quality Assessment in Laboratory Medicine (EQALM) has, de facto, become the international meeting for PT/EQA providers. While the organization is European, members come not only from across Europe but also from China, the Caribbean, India,…

Tetracyclines are a class of antibiotic that originate from Streptomyces spp. There are numerous members of the tetracycline family; those still commonly in clinical use as antmicrobials in Canada include tetracycline, doxycycline, and minocycline. Tigecycline is a glycylcycline, a separate…

In the context of the HPTA, every HPTA licence applicant should designate an individual as a biological safety officer (BSO). The role of the BSO is to promote and monitor compliance with the provisions of the Act and the regulations.…

The glycopeptide antibiotics are cell-wall active agents that include glycopeptides(vancomycin), modified glycopeptides (oritivancin and dalbavancin) and lipoglyopeptides (teichoplanin and televancin). There are a number of other compounds with similar activity that have not yet been licensed and will not be…