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Iowa celebrates 50 years of giving babies best start |
The Iowa Newborn Screening Program celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and the many advancements it has made since its implementation in 1966.
The Brown boys pose for a group portrait. As infants, these brothers were diagnosed with Phenylketonuria (PKU), which was the first condition screened for by the Iowa program that began in 1966.State legislation in 1965 established newborn screening (NBS) in Iowa. The following year, Iowa began screening for phenylketonuria or PKU. Today, the Iowa program – administered by the Iowa Department of Public Health – can detect more than 50 conditions, which if left untreated, can cause serious neurological harm, coma or death.
The Iowa program is the first in the nation to operate seven days a week, 365 days a year so babies with these conditions have a better chance to receive treatment before irreversible health effects occur.
Every day, the Central Delivery Services (CDS) picks up NBS specimens from birthing facilities and midwife locations. CDS then delivers the specimens to the State Hygienic Laboratory in the evening of the same day they are picked up. The night shift at the laboratory immediately begins testing which is completed by the day shift the following day.
When a condition is detected, the follow-up staff from the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital work with physicians and families to immediately begin evaluation, further testing and treatment.
Each year, more than 40,000 Iowa babies have the best possible start in life thanks to the Iowa Newborn Screening Program.
Milestones of the Iowa Newborn Screening Program
1965 - 1988
1965 – State Legislature enacts a law that recommends testing infants for Phenylketonuria (PKU). Testing was voluntary until 1983.
1966 – 1984 – The State Hygienic Laboratory and private or hospital laboratories are authorized to perform screening tests.
1980 – Screening for PKU, Galactosemia, MSUD, and Hypothyroidism is made available at several large hospitals.
1981 – Screening for these four conditions is made available for all infants throughout the state.
1982 – Federal funding ceases and the Hygienic Laboratory begins fee-for-service testing.
1983 – Amendment to 136A of Iowa Code establishes the Birth Defects Institute of the Iowa Department of Public Health. The institute has authority to establish policy for newborn screening in Iowa. Screening becomes mandatory at either the State Hygienic Laboratory or an approved laboratory.
1984 – The Hygienic Laboratory becomes the state’s Central Screening Laboratory. All hospitals in Iowa are required to send specimens to the Hygienic Lab.
1988 – Hemoglobinopathy screening is added.
1991 - 2007
1991 – Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia screening is added.
1992 – The State Hygienic Laboratory begins screening for North Dakota newborns.
1999 – A Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS) is purchased, allowing the program to add screening for Medium Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency, a disorder detectable only by MS/MS.
2002 –Biotinidase deficiency screening is added.
2003 – Because of the multi-analyte capability of MS/MS, 28 more disorders are added to the newborn screening panel of tests, bringing the total to 34.
2005 – 2008 - The State Hygienic Laboratory provides screening for Louisiana newborns in response to the destruction of the Louisiana public health laboratory by Hurricane Katrina.
2006 – Cystic Fibrosis is added to the screening panel.
2006 – Courier program begins for collection of specimens throughout the state.
2007 – The State Hygienic Laboratory begins screening for South Dakota newborns.
2010 - 2016
2010 – Tyrosinemia type 1 is added to the testing panel.
2013 – In its national investigative journalism series, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel identifies Iowa and Delaware as model programs for the timely delivery of specimens to the laboratory for screening.
2014 - Screening for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) is added to Iowa panel.
2016 – The Iowa Newborn Screening Program celebrates its 50th Anniversary.