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Sheldon Campbell , MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine
Director, Medical Microbiology Course
Director of Laboratories, VA Connecticut Healthcare System
Director, Microbiology Fellowship

203-932-5711 x4122
sheldon.campbell@yale.edu

B.A. 1980, Rice University, Houston, TX
Ph.D. 1987, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
M.D. 1988, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Fellowship: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine

Research Interests
My research is concerned with the diagnosis and epidemiology of infectious diseases, and is centered at the West Haven campus of VA Connecticut.

A major line of effort is in the epidemiology of M. tuberculosis infections. VA Connecticut houses the VA National Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis and Other Mycobacterial Diseases. The laboratory serves as a reference center for identification and susceptibility testing of mycobacterial isolates from over 100 VA and non-VA facilities. Among the 2500+ isolates received each year are approximately 700 M. tuberculosis isolates from approximately 500 patients, or roughly 2% of the TB cases in the country. We have examined the patterns of drug resistance over the last 12 years in this population. The percentage of isolates resistant to the primary antimycobacterial drugs rose steadily in the 1980s and peaked in 1991-2, with 15% of isolates resistant to isoniazid. The isoniazid resistance rate had declined to 13% in 1994. In collaboration with Dr. Barry Kreisworth of the Public Health Research Institute in New York City, I and a group of Yale investigators led by Dr. Peter Selwyn are using molecular strain typing procedures to explore the epidemiology of tuberculosis in Connecticut. These studies have led to the identification of several previously unsuspected TB outbreaks in the state. Work is currently underway to define risk factors for clustering. We are also investigating geographical effects on strain clustering.

A second area of interest is PCR-based methods for epidemiological typing of microorganisms. In collaboration with Dr. Louise Dembry of the Infectious Disease and Hospital Epidemiology services, we are developing a rapid method for strain typing of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). VRE are important nosocomial pathogens, and we are looking to use PCR-based methods to perform rapid turnaround typing as a method of investigating potential outbreaks. Finally, I am working with Dr. Brian Wong on the development of assays for fungal polyols in the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections. The d-arabinitol to creatinine ratio (DA/Cr) has been used to detect Candida infections in critically ill patients, but has not been widely employed. We are working to bring this assay online at VA Connecticut using the Cobas FARA analyzer, with the aim of supporting animal models of invasive fungal disease, clinical trials of antifungal therapies, and, ultimately, offering the assay for rapid clinical diagnosis of invasive fungal infections.

1. Edberg, SC, Hardalo, CJ, Kontnick, C, and Campbell, SM (1994) Rapid detection of vancomycin-resistant enterococci. J. Clin. Microbiol. 32, 2182-2184.
   
2. Hardalo C, Campbell S, Filatov V, Liggett PE, Bia FJ (1996) Tuberculous Choroiditis: Early diagnosis by polymerase chain reaction. Infect. Dis. Clin. Practice 5, 336-9.
   
3. Vadney F, Gross WM, Bonato DA, and Campbell SM (1995) Survey of resistance to antituberculosis drugs in a veteran population, 1982-1993. Abstract # U59, 95th Annual meeting of the American Society of Microbiology.