Working 1986Originally uploaded by Lady Birchwood

I have not been well this week, and as I previously mentioned, took a sick day on Monday. I went to work yesterday and did okay, I think in part because I had had 16 hours of sleep on Monday in two 8-hour shifts. I felt ready to do something other than sleep by Tuesday morning! However, after a very busy day at work yesterday, I got my customary seven hours of sleep last night, and I was fading badly by the end of the workday today. Still feel pretty lousy with a cough, congested head and a sore throat.

My boss came up to me today and asked if I would be one of the on-call folks this weekend for CDC’s meningitis study that they’ve got going on right now in Moorhead, MN. They’re collecting cultures on people to see who might be carrying this strain of Neisseria meningitidis that is resistant to a commonly used antibiotic. This is a resistance pattern that has not appeared in the United States before. CDC has been in Moorhead since the weekend but we haven’t gotten the cultures earlier this week because the inoculated agar is being incubated in Moorhead for at least 48-72 hours.  The purpose of this incubation in Moorhead is to give this temperature and atmosphere sensitive organism a head-start on growing well and help it to survive the trip to the Cities to the Department of Health. The first batch of cultures is expected to show up tomorrow with more potentially coming in through the end of the week and into the weekend.

My innermost thought when my supervisor asked me this today was dammit! I worked last weekend and have been looking forward to this three-day President’s Day weekend! I don’t feel good and was looking forward to the time off! However, that was a fleeting thought and one that I did not voice either to my boss or anyone else at work.

The truth of the matter is that it’s situations like this CDC meningitis surveillance that give my job meaning. It’s why I’m in public health microbiology and not doing sterility checks on products at General Mills or doing assembly-line microbiology in a large, high-volume lab. It makes me feel good to say, “Yes, count me in. I’ll be there if you need me.”  It’s what I love to do.  It’s my contribution to everyone’s overall health.

I don’t know what the weekend will bring, and either does anyone else at this point. It’s an “evolving situation,” as they say, meaning that no one knows for sure what’s going on! But if those plates start coming in, they may well need my expertise. My clinical background is such that I’m experienced and comfortable with reading cultures obtained from body sites that contain a wide variety of bacteria: respiratory cultures, stool cultures, skin and wound cultures. Many of the bacteria that live in these places are considered part of the body’s “normal flora” and are not pathogenic. Therein lies the art and science of microbiology, to be able to look at a variety of different kinds of colonies growing on a plate of agar and then be able to pick out of that assortment what may be a problem. Some of my coworkers have that kind of background, but many don’t. They’ll need me if those plates start coming in by the dozens — or hundreds — and someone needs to “read” them and start pulling out the suspected pathogen.

I’m taking some Tylenol now and going to bed. I need my rest!