In 2018, the Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory of Lebanon became the country's National Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis. Under appropriate biosecurity and biosecurity conditions, the laboratory carries out microbiological diagnostic testing for tuberculosis, including:
- Handling and decontamination of samples
- Culturing on liquid and solid media
- Microscopic examination
- First- and second-line susceptibility testing of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex using phenotyping and genotyping methods
The laboratory can also identify nontuberculous mycobacteria from positive cultures.
To detect latent tuberculosis infections, the laboratory is equipped to perform the QuantiFERON-TB Gold plus test, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The laboratory performs the following specialized biological analyses:
- HIV-1, HBV and HCV viral load testing and HPV diagnostics,
- HPV and HCV typing,
- detection and differentiation of sexually transmitted pathogens.
The laboratory also provides training sessions.
Quality
The laboratory was built in accordance with ISO14644 standards, parts 4 and 1: “Clean rooms and related controlled environments”.
The Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory joined the Quality Initiative in November 2017, committing to adopt a quality approach to receive NF EN ISO 15189 accreditation.
Following an initial audit in November 2017, an external evaluation took place in November 2018 to ensure that discrepancies found during the first audit had been resolved and that the Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory of Lebanon would be ready to apply for accreditation in 2019.
Maintaining the laboratory's critical resources has been a priority focus, before setting up more advanced quality management activities. Major funding was therefore used to purchase equipment, including a laboratory-designed +4°C and -20°C biosafety cabinet and a new -80°C freezer. Other purchases have included a lone worker protection system for working in a BSL3 lab and a SYBR-Green filter to extract EtBr from the laboratory.
2019 achievements
- RML officially mandated as the National TB Reference Laboratory of the National TB programme.
- Participation in the organization of GABRIEL Network's annual meeting held in Lebanon. .
- COFRAQ's basic agreement obtained for the laboratory's audit in 2020.
- Partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) through an agreement signed between the IOM and Fondation Mérieux in support of the National TB Programme.
- Laboratory standards updated, and BSL3s, BSL2s and biosafety cabinets restandardised.
- Organisation of skills maintenance sessions for the staff of the national tuberculosis programme.
Impact
Now that new management has been installed and the laboratory has been mandated as a National TB Reference Laboratory, the RML is now fulfilling its public health mission for the better diagnosis and care of TB patients in Lebanon.
2020 outlook
- Implementation of new national recommendations of the National TB Programme on the diagnosis of TB. This should result in a sizable increase in the volume of activity.
- Continuing discussions with the IOM and the National Programme in the Fight against HIV aimed at defining the viral load to be attained by all patients on antiretroviral drugs.
- Strengthening the ties with the Hôtel Dieu de France and conducting projects jointly.
- Concluding the study on latent TB and publishing the results with the view of updating national recommendations.
- Studying the opportunities for collaboration between the RML and the Pasteur Institute of Tunis.
COVID response
In the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and with the support of Fondation Mérieux and the network of Rodolphe Mérieux laboratories worldwide, and at the request of the Ministry of Public Health of the Lebanese Republic, the Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory of Lebanon has been working on the diagnosis of COVID-19 together with the laboratory of the Rafic Hariri University Hospital since early March.
Working in synergy with the Hôtel Dieu de France and other Lebanese hospitals, the RML is actively engaged in the response to and in the fight against this pandemic, bringing together the skills of all health professionals: doctors, pharmacists, medical biologists, laboratory technicians, nurses, epidemiologists, and researchers.
In his letter, the Rector of St. Joseph University, Prof. Salim Daccache s.j., wished to express “his thanks and those of the University and of the hospital community to the entire RML staff for their unfailing commitment, at night and by day, in the screening of the coronavirus. These include Dr. Josette Najjar, representative of Fondation Mérieux in Beirut, Ms. Danielle Chaaya, RML technician and quality manager, Ms. Rita Nicolas, technician, Prof. Marianne Abi Fadel, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Director of the RML.”
And the Rector cited Alain Mérieux in his letter: “The Pasteur Institute's message is, today, more than ever, apropos. We must pool all of our skills in the fight against infectious diseases. This requires a biological approach that combines diagnosis and vaccination (…). Without distinguishing borders between countries and religions, between humans and animals”. (Alain Mérieux at the fiftieth anniversary of the Foundation Mérieux, 2017). “Alain Mérieux's words describe the challenges of the national and the international war against the coronavirus. Therefore, while Lebanon is going through these difficult times, I can only pay tribute to the action carried out in the world by one of the University's great partners, the Fondation Mérieux, through its GABRIEL network, as well as through the Institut Mérieux.”