H1N1 cases swamp RI Health Dept. lab

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - The H1N1 outbreak has inundated employees at the Dept. of Health Laboratory with work.

In this week alone, the workload is already double what it was for all of last year.

The three person staff is handling a staggering 20-30 specimens a day. In the past week, they've tested more than 170 samples.

For each sample, there's a complex eight step process that takes nearly three hours to complete.

First, the specimen has to be registered. Next, the sample has to be split and extracted. After this, it's entered into a specific computer program. Finally, technicians analyze the results.

The Acting Chief of the Clinical Lab, Dr. Robert Ireland, says "the percentage we were seeing was about 5 percent positive, now we're seeing 40 to 60 percent positive in a week."

The lab's workers understand the critical nature of what they're handling, and they're putting in long hours to try to handle each and every case with care.

Ireland adds, "there is a fair amount of overtime, but we have to find the right balance of working hard and not burning out because these people would work 'til they drop if I let them."

Dr. Ireland says he hopes that RI has reached the peak of this latest wave of H1N1. But there's no way yet of knowing that until the numbers start to decline.