Idaho Bureau of Laboratories (IBL)

The Idaho Bureau of Laboratories provides laboratory services that support DHW programs, the local public health districts, other state agencies, and Idaho residents. IBL is certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a high complexity clinical laboratory and by the Environmental Protection Agency as the principal state laboratory for drinking water analysis. It is the state’s only public health laboratory. IBL provides many critical testing services that aren’t available anywhere else in Idaho.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

Testing programs

IBL provides both clinical and environmental testing services. Clinical specimens are tested in support of outbreak investigations to identify emerging or re-emerging diseases and to rule out or confirm biological or chemical threat agents.

IBL operates the state tuberculosis laboratory, serves as a World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention global influenza surveillance laboratory, and partners with county mosquito abatement districts to identify and mitigate West Nile Virus.

IBL also has the state’s only infectious disease genomics laboratory, where scientists perform bacterial and viral whole genome sequencing to link cases, identify the source of outbreaks, and monitor for new variants in the state.

Environmental samples are tested to make sure Idahoans have safe drinking water and unpolluted air, rivers, lakes, streams, and lands.

Inspection programs

IBL provides inspection services to ensure that Idaho laboratories, air quality monitoring stations, and X-ray service providers are adhering to state and federal regulations. In collaboration with the Department of Environmental Quality, IBL inspects and certifies all Idaho laboratories providing drinking water testing. IBL also has an inspector for statewide air quality monitoring stations to help make sure the state is meeting all air quality attainment standards. IBL registers all Idaho clinical laboratories, and in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, enforces state and federal laboratory quality standards to ensure patient safety. In 2024, there were more than 2,000 active clinical laboratories in the registry.

IBL also houses the Idaho Radiation Control Program, which licenses and inspects all X-ray producing devices in the state to make sure they are operating normally, and that facility staff are trained in radiation safety protocols. In 2024, there were more than 1,500 Idaho clinical, academic, and industrial settings with active X-ray device licenses.

Training programs

Promoting laboratory safety is a key function of the state laboratory. IBL provides training opportunities for clinical laboratories to ensure they can effectively recognize, rule out, and refer biological or chemical threat agents, as well as appropriately package and ship those diagnostic specimens that may contain biological or chemical threat agents to the state lab.

IBL also participates in training exercises with the Idaho Military Division’s 101st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team and other local and federal first responders to be prepared to respond to a biological or chemical terrorism event. As the state’s only Laboratory Response Network reference laboratory, IBL assists first responders with the detection and confirmation of these high-consequence agents.

Outreach programs

Idaho has a relatively small but collaborative science community. IBL seeks to provide awareness of public health laboratory career opportunities by presenting at local, state, and regional conferences and by providing academic internships. IBL also works with clinical laboratories and health professionals to promote antibiotic stewardship best practices and increase awareness about the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. IBL collaborates with colleagues in the Bureau of Environmental Health and Communicable Disease’s Healthcare Associated Infections Program to identify antibiotic resistance trends, test for emerging resistant bacteria, and promote infection prevention practices in clinical settings.

Outside of academic and clinical settings, IBL works to educate Idaho’s many private well owners about how to properly maintain their systems and test their well water. IBL collaborates with fellow state agencies and many citizen scientists to publish an interactive map of ground water quality conditions for Idaho’s private well owners.