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Clinical Microbiology and Immunology
Facillity Head: Dr. Dilruba Ahmed, MBBS, MSc, PhD
Dr Dilruba Ahmed is a Clinical Microbiologist who is currently the Head of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at icddr,b. She has been involved in the field diagnostic microbiology and immunology for over a decade. Dr Ahmed, along with a team of skilled and dedicated laboratory staff, provides excellent service to users through its modern and cutting edge equipment. Under her guidance the laboratory has achieved international accreditation ISO 15189:2012 since 2010. The lab has an excellent platform to identify antibiotic resistance pattern since the 1990s.,To keep pace with the recent and actual therapeutic pattern, Dr Ahmed has updated her laboratory with modern automated facility for identification and antimicrobial resistance pattern. Along with supporting patient services, Dr Ahmed collaborated with both the internal and external researchers, supported research work and has published papers in peer reviewed journals. She hosts national and international for short term fellowship and also mentors MSc and PhD student. Dr Ahmed coordinated training and workshops for Laboratory Technologists and Microbiologists in Nepal and assessed The Clinical Laboratory and Public Health Laboratory at the National Referral Hospital to be the National Reference Laboratory.
Clinical Microbiology and Immunology Laboratory has the capacity to diagnose infection from clinical sample using modernised culture and automated serological platform. In the microbiology section, samples from stool and swabs are processed by conventional method. In addition, body fluids like blood, CSF are processed in BacTAlert 3D FAN method. This advanced technique enables detection of pathogen from patient sample even with a history of antibiotic intake. In the era of antibiotic resistance the laboratory has developed and added the capacity for expedition of identification and antimicrobial testing susceptibility method using VITEK 2 technique. The advancement of this system has expedited the identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing of pathogen and allowed to deliver the patient report within 24 to 48 hours instead of 72 to 96 hours. Other immunological screenings include viral markers, infectious disease markers, tumor markers, autoimmune disease markers, food and inhalation allergy test, which the facility assists to identify 76 allergy panels. Along with patient services, the laboratory provides quality research support and collaborates with both the institutional and external researchers. Quality control of the lab activities is continued by participation in external quality control through the College of American Pathology including internal and inter-lab quality control.