Term: Newborn Screening and Public Health Chemistry Section
Last Updated: 2012-12-03
Service provider at the Cadham Provincial Laboratory. Responsibilities include Newborn Screening Program and Maternal Serum Screening. The Newborn Screening Program is guided by the Manitoba Perinatal Screening Committee and screens all newborns using a blood test taken between 24 hours and five days after the birth of a baby, used to identify the risk for a number of treatable disorders. The Maternal Serum Screening is completed in collaboration with the Department of Human Genetics of the University of Manitoba: this test is optional to pregnant women during prenatal care and provides an estimation of the risk for fetal open neural tube defects, Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. (Government of Manitoba, Cadham Provincial Laboratory - 2011).