The Official Publication

of the

Louisiana State Society

of American Medical

Technologists

The Pelican

Spring 2017 Vol. 42 No.1

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Louisiana State Officers

President Zenaida Maraggun, MS, MT(AMT), CLS

1602 Amour Drive Leesville, LA 71446-5389

(337) 238-5389 Zenymaggun@hotmail.com

Vice President Randall C Swopes, MT 2691 Whittington Ln. Westlake, La 70669

337-794 -1164 rswopes1@hotmail.com

Secretary Zenaida Maraggun, MT

Treasurer Karen Brockelsby, MT

625 Chambertin Dr. Kenner, LA 70065-1111

Lkb2@cox.net

Editor Randall Swopes, MT

Board of Director Member Lettia Griffin, RMA, RPT

Central District Councillor

Randall Swopes, MT

Judiciary Councillor Kimberly Cheuvront, Ph.D., MT

100 Fair Oaks Drive Fairmont, West Virginia 26554

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2017 President’s Message

Wishing you a great year full of opportunity and successes and push the profession for-ward in a positive and meaningful way. It is with pride, honor, and respect that I have been able to represent you as your president for years…it is a lifetime achievement fulfilled with the help of Mr. Randy Swopes and Mrs. Karen Brockelsby.

Retirement of a valued state officers does not mean the loss of the State Society but share and mentor their knowledge, to young and new members. I strongly urge members to be active so you can take over when the active officers in our state will retire.

Year 2017 is here and we have to focus on how we can improve our State Society. I need your participation to achieve the goal of our State Society which is more member’s partic-ipation during our scientific seminar and Board/Business meeting. Our profession is a field of study that requires extensive training, has a unique body of knowledge and there-fore continuing education through seminars can enhance this demand. It is true that we can achieve this with on-line training but close interaction with your co-professionals and experienced speakers can improve our human relationship and personal development.

This year we will have our AMT’s 79th Educational Program and National Meeting to be held in Kansas City, Missouri, the City of Fountains, Mark your calendar! (continued on next

page)

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President’s Message continued

Updates: AMT continues to develop a Molecular Diagnostics Technician credential. There is now an MLT practice exam available and the MT practice exam should be available soon per Mr. Jeffrey Lavender, MT President’s Greetings.

Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (MLPW) will take place on April 23-29, 2017. The theme is “Laboratory Professionals Get Results”. We work behind the scene so this is the time that we propagate our role as one of the key members of the health care team.

I would like to end my greetings by sharing an inspirational note from His Holiness the Dalai Lama - “I firmly believe that the more we care for the happiness of others the greater our own sense of well-being becomes”. Zenaida Maraggun, MT President, LASSAMT.

Dates to Remember

79th National Convention 2017

Intercontinental Kansas City at The Plaza

401 Ward Parkway Kansas City, MO 64112

Toll-free Phone Number: 866 856 9717 Fax: 816 756 2199

80th National Convention 2018

Hyatt Capitol Hill Washington D.C.

July 1-6, 2018

Medical Laboratory Professional’s Week April 23 -29, 2017

National Medical Assistants Recognition Week October 16 -20, 2017

Louisiana State Society Fall Meeting Date to be Determined - Leesville, Louisiana

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Central District Councillor’s Message Editor’s Message

Spring 2017

This will be your year of OPPORTUNITY. There is a wave of excitement sweeping across our Nation. AMT is alive and doing well. Our membership exceeds 78,000 and is growing. We learned of this awesome fact at the 2017 Spring Board of Directors and Council meet-ing that just concluded.

The excitement is building for our 2017 National Convention, to be held at the Interconti-nental Hotel at the Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri July 9 -13, 2017. Start making your plans to attend by taking advantage of the early bird registration discount of $225.00. The regis-tration fee after May 1st goes to $450. So start making your arrangements and save some money.

I am delighted to announce that the 2018 American Medical Technologists 80th Educa-tional Program & National Meeting will be held in Washington, DC July 1-6, 2018. Imagine spending the 4th of July in our nations capital. There will be fireworks in the sky and in the city, but regardless of your political preference, it will be an awesome convention.

All but two states are now part of centralized banking with AMT. We will once again con-duct leadership training in Kansas City. Topics include' "What are You Doing with My Money", "CEU'S are Your Responsibility" and "Driving Thru the AMT Website".

Be faithful to your state societies and attend the meetings to support your leadership. I will look for you all in Kansas City, Missouri as I stated at the beginning of this message MAKE this your year of OPPORTUNITY.

AMT is the choice for Allied Health Professional Certification.

Respectfully, Randy Swopes, MT Central District Councillor

The Pelican is the official publication of the Louisiana State Society of the American Medical Technologists and is published two times a year. The publication is available on our website at www.americanmedtech.org, select about us, state societies, select Louisi-ana State Society. Once on our site, select newsletter and select current issue.

Articles appearing do not reflect the opinion of the Louisiana State Society and/or Ameri-can Medical Technologists. The editor reserves the right to edit all articles when neces-sary. Photographs are courtesy of Randy Swopes and Zenaida Maraggun.

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Plasmodium falciparum Student Article

There are approximately 156 types of malarial species, but only four are parasites found in humans. Of those four, Plasmodium falciparum is considered the deadliest. Per the Ma-laria Vaccine Initiative, “Almost all deaths from malaria are due to Plasmodium falcipa-rum” Every Year, around 300 to 500 million people suffer from malaria, causing an estimated 1 to 2.7 million deaths” (90% of these deaths occur in Africa, mostly among young children) P. falciparum is responsible for 85% of these cases. Per the World Health Organization, “in 2015, approximately 3.2 billion people – nearly half of the world’s population were at risk of malaria. Female Anopheles mosquitoes, in most cases, are the cause of malaria being transmitted. There are around 30 species of more than 400 different Anopheles mosquito species that are malaria vectors.

Female Anopheles mosquitos inject their saliva into human hosts spreading the spo-rozites, which are the infectious forms of malarial parasites. These sporozites then enter the liver cells, taking on a new form and multiplying. When these liver cells finally rup-ture, merozoites (blood stage parasites) are released. Each of these merozoites then in-vade a red blood cell and multiply for around two days. The red blood cells, in return, rup-ture releasing more merozoties. This stage of malaria’s life cycle is what leads to disease and often death. Some of the “…merozoites change into a form called gametocytes, which do not cause disease but remain in the blood until they are cleared by drugs or the im-mune system, of taken up by the bite of a mosquito”. In addition, “P. falciparum can pre-vent an infected red cell from going to the spleen by sending adhesive proteins to the cell membrane of the red cell“. These proteins cause red blood cells to stick to the walls of small blood vessels, which could create a blockage circulatory system causing problems within certain organs. The symptoms of malaria can be non-specific, but normally begin within 10-30 days after being bitten. “Since untreated malaria can progress to severe forms that may be rapidly fatal, malaria should always be considered in patients who have a history of exposure…” Fever and chills, which can be accompanied by headache, myalgia, arthralgia, weakness, vomiting and diarrhea, are the most frequent symptoms of malaria. Some of the other symptoms include splenomegaly, anemia, thrombocytopenia, hypoglycemia, pulmonary or renal dysfunction, neurologic changes, breathing difficulties, comas, confusion, sei-zures, abnormalities in blood coagulation, high acidity of the blood, mild jaundice, and he-moglobin in the urine. “Infections cause by P. falciparum are most likely to progress to se-vere, potentially fatal forms with central nervous system involvement (cerebral malaria; which can cause blindness, deafness, speech difficulty, paralysis, and trouble with involve-ment), acute renal failure, severe anemia, or acute respiratory distress syndrome” Malaria can also lead to premature baby delivery or low birth weight.

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Plasmodium falciparum continued

Diagnosis of malaria can usually be done by examining a blood sample under a micro-scope. The antigens of P. falciparum in the patient’s blood can be detected with test kits known as rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). These RTD’s can detect one antigen for P. falciparum and another antigen that is found in all four of the human malarial species. These RTD’s usually produce results in around twenty minutes. RTD’s are a good alternative to microscopy. If there are not enough ma-larial parasites in the patient’s blood, the RTD may not be able to detect an infection. “A negative RTD result can be followed by microscopy. If a patient with a positive RTD is not responding to treatment, another blood sample should be taken This time (the test should be done) using microscopy to determine whether the medicine was appropriate for the Plasmodium species”. Diagnosis of malaria can be very challenging, especially in develop-ing countries for many reasons including: some of the health workers are not trained suf-ficiently, the microscopes and reagents could be of poor quality, and the electrical supply maybe unreliable. Most malaria cases can be treated, if caught in time. Patients with un-complicated malaria can be treated at a nearby hospital and then will be sent home to rest. A rectal artesunate drug can be given as a first line treatment, in emergency cases. Severe malaria can be hospitalize patients for many days. When treating patients, these things should be taken into consideration: age and size of patient, drug allergies, media-tions the patient is on health condition when starting treatment, and where the patient was infected. Artemesinin (combined with another drug), atovaquone-proguanil, chloro-quine, doxycycline, mefloquine, quinine, and Sulfadoxinepyrimethamine are the most rec-ommended drugs to be used to fight malaria. References www.cdc.gov/dpdx/malaria www.malariavaccine.org/plasmodium-falciparum-malaria.html www.parasitesinhumans.org/plasmodium-falciparium-malaria.html www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en

The article was authored by Bailey Daugherty, a student in the MLT program at Southwestern Oklahoma State University at Sayre, 409 East Mississippi Avenue Sayre, Oklahoma.