Public Health Ontario Laboratories provide clinical and environmental laboratory testing, related expert advice and research in support of the prevention and control of infectious diseases and the protection and promotion of the public's health in Ontario. We provide these services in Ontario for medical officers of health, all hospital and community laboratories, long-term care facilities, clinicians in private practice and private citizens.
There are 11 laboratories with a total of approximately 700 employees throughout Ontario, including a central laboratory in Toronto and regional laboratories located in London, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury, Orillia, Peterborough, Ottawa and Kingston. We perform over four million laboratory tests annually, including those for the diagnosis of infectious and communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, SARS, Legionnaires’, influenza and West Nile Virus infections. We also perform all of the HIV and syphilis clinical testing in Ontario, and operate the largest diagnostic mycology laboratory in the country (one of the largest diagnostic mycology laboratories in the world) and one of the largest tuberculosis laboratories in North America.
| New - Updated Public Health Inspector’s Guide to the Principles and Practices of Environmental Microbiology |
The 4th edition of the Public Health Inspector’s Guide to the Principles and Practices of Environmental Microbiology contains important updates and detailed information related to PHO laboratory testing and other laboratory services in the area of food, water and environmental sanitation including:
- Test menu, guidelines and requirements, turn around times and test interpretations
- Forms
- Definitions
- Customer service and contact information
Clinical and Environmental Testing Services: We provide clinical and environmental testing services for infectious diseases, particularly where expertise and / or enhanced biohazardous containment is required. Test information is used to diagnose and treat infectious diseases and to identify and respond to potential and actual infectious disease outbreaks, new and emerging pathogens, evolving antimicrobial resistance and bioterrorism. The clinical testing areas maintain Ontario Laboratory Accreditation (OLA) by meeting the requirements of ISO 15189, while drinking water tests, which are limited to the scope of testing (http://www.cala.ca/cala_directories.html), are accredited by the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation Inc. (CALA) to ISO 17025.
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