Additional Information
Level of instruction: Intermediate
Intended audience: Medical laboratory scientists, medical technologists, technicians, histotechnologists, and histotechnicians working in the clinical or pathology laboratory. This course is also appropriate for clinical laboratory science students, histology students, and pathology residents.
Author information: Garland E. Pendergraph, PhD, JD, MLS(ASCP)SM, HCLD/CC(ABB) is the retired former Laboratory Director & Director of Laboratory Operations, Quest Diagnostics-Valdosta RRL. He received his MSPH from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, his PhD in medical parasitology and mycology from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his law degree with a concentration in health care law from Concord Law School, Kaplan University. He also did a Fellowship in Tropical Medicine at Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He is the author of a textbook in phlebotomy, a number of scientific articles, plus internet training programs. Dr. Pendergraph serves on the advisory committee for medical technology program at Thomas University. He is licensed as a laboratory director in the States of Georgia and Florida.
Author information: Kwi Simmons is employed at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and is certified as a medical technologist by the American Association of Bioanalysts. She received her degree in medical technology from Thomas University, Thomasville, Georgia.
Reviewer information: Judi Bennett is a program director for MediaLab, Inc. During her 30 year career as a medical technologist, she has served as a senior system analyst, laboratory manager, Point-of-Care coordinator, microbiology supervisor, and generalist. Judi has been a speaker at various LIS, AMT, and CLMA conferences and has been published in CLMA magazine.
Course description: This course includes an overview of the function of prion proteins and the differing theories as to how prions cause several different neurodegenerative diseases. The causes and symptoms of the four types of infectious and classical prion diseases will be explored, as well as the recommendations for safe handling of blood and body fluid specimens from individuals infected with prion diseases.