Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

Matt Hutchinson from the Baker County Vector Control District prepares to set mosquito traps in the Baker Valley. 

Baker County in eastern Oregon has a mosquito problem. 

“We get plenty of mosquitoes, that’s for sure,” said Matt Hutchinson, manager of the Baker Valley Vector Control District (BVVCD), in Baker City, Oregon.  

Lorely Miller said she owes her life to the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Oregon State University. “I do not believe that I would still be alive today.” 

Miller contracted tularemia, an extremely dangerous, highly contagious bacterial disease. People usually get tularemia from other animals. In her case, from a squirrel. 

Did the horse have rabies? That’s just one of the questions that Wendy Black and Nelson Osorio can answer. Black and Osorio are both microbiologists in the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the Oregon State University Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine.

The Oregon Veterinary Diagnostics Lab runs large scale sample testing on many different types of bacteria.