The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL), located on the Washington State University Pullman campus, is again rated a National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) Level I facility.
This year marks the 20th consecutive year WADDL has been a member of the network. The lab—a service unit in the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine—is also the only Level I facility in the Pacific Northwest.
WADDL protects animal health, public health, and the nation’s food supply from biological threats through laboratory diagnostic testing.
Initiated by the United States Department of Agriculture Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the NAHLN was created in 2002 beginning with 12 founding state or federal laboratories; WADDL is one of those founding members and currently has the largest scope of foreign animal disease tests of state laboratories in the network.
The network is now a partnership of 60 animal disease diagnostic laboratories in 42 states dedicated to the early detection of, response to, and recovery from animal health emergencies. Of those 60 laboratories, 32 of them are Level I facilities.
“WADDL’s purpose is to improve animal health and human health through detection of animal pathogens that can be transmitted to humans, food safety, and to promote interstate commerce and global trade for animal agriculture,” said Tim Baszler, WADDL Executive Director. “We’ve been committed to that, not just since we joined this network, but since we opened in 1974.”
WADDL, which includes a main laboratory in Pullman, WA as well as a branch laboratory in Puyallup, WA—the Avian Health and Food Safety Laboratory—responds to testing requests from throughout the USA with most coming from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii. Last year, WADDL’s services total nearly 24,000 case accessions, resulting in 300,000 laboratory tests.
