A Honolulu-based laboratory has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide clinical laboratory testing for tuberculosis in the South Pacific.

The company — Diagnostic Laboratory Services — will provide services in the Marshall Islands and other Pacific locales, including Majuro, Saipan, Ebeye, Palau, Yap, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk and American Samoa.

Dr. Matthew Bankowski, DLS technical director, said the lab has been expanding its services in molecular infectious disease testing, which helped to win the competitive federal award. He said an initial smear test will be conducted in the South Pacific and then a sample will be sent to Hawai'i to repeat the test.

Bankowski said TB remains a big concern worldwide, as evidenced by the recent scare on the Mainland over a traveler reported to have a drug-resistant strain traveling on airliners.

"There are people out there you don't realize they have TB," Bankowski said. "We don't know for sure what the prevalence is out there."

He said the CDC believes it's important to increase the efficiency in the detection, control and prevention of tuberculosis in the South Pacific, especially to track down strains that are resistant to multiple drugs, making them harder to contain.

Dr. Chris Whelen, laboratories administrator for the state Health Department, said TB testing is crucial: "TB is a very important disease in Hawai'i. "

Whelen said Hawai'i has one of the highest incidences of TB in the United States, partly because of an aggressive and effective screening of immigrants. By identifying the disease early, "we get them on treatment before they can spread the disease to others."

Whelen said the state is fortunate in that "we don't see a lot of drug-resistant TB."

A spokesman for the CDC said this is a one-year contract with two option years valued at $571,000.

Bankowski said testing will aid in determining which drugs would be the most effective for treatment.

"The goal is not infecting even one more person," he said. "The goal is to contain it."

Bankowski said advances in testing will bring quicker results. "You can literally have a result within the same day." And identifying the problem quicker also can mean "you can reduce the healthcare costs," he said.

As a part of the award, DLS has entered into a partnership with the Pacific Island Health Officers Association, a Hawai'i-based laboratory, to provide training and proficiency testing for laboratory personnel based in the various island groups.

Diagnostic Laboratory Services describes itself as the state's largest clinical laboratory.

The company operates on Guam and Saipan as well.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.