DiaSorin Provides Hepatitis Training to Laboratory and Healthcare Workers.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information contact: Alice Farago DiaSorin Inc. 651-351-5721

DiaSorin Provides Hepatitis Training to Laboratory and Healthcare Workers.

Stillwater, Minn. – DiaSorin Inc. and the National Laboratory Training Network (NLTN) are scheduled to provide the second in a series of three hepatitis web conferences on hepatitis A, B and C. “Understanding Hepatitis B”? will be presented by Wendi Kuhnert, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 16, 2007. The training is offered via audio or web conference to healthcare workers performing public health, clinical, and environmental laboratory testing. The first web conference “Understanding Hepatitis A”? on January 17th was attended by more than 500 laboratory professionals. The National Laboratory Training Network is a training system sponsored by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Infection with hepatitis viruses continues to be a health threat in the United States and many parts of the world. Any person with a hepatitis virus infection is a potential source of infection to others. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States it is estimated that 1.25 million persons have chronic Hepatitis B and 4.9% of the U.S. population have been infected at some point. However hepatitis B is considered to be a vaccine preventable disease.

“It is imperative that laboratory professionals understand new methods in place for testing to detect and defend the public against life-threatening infectious diseases such as hepatitis. We are pleased that DiaSorin, with their many years of experience in research, development and manufacturing of in-vitro diagnostic testing for viral hepatitis, is partnering with the NLTN to provide these hepatitis training programs,”? said Karen Breckenridge, Knowledge Manager for APHL’s NLTN program. Hepatitis testing is performed to prevent further transmission to others and to defend communities against hepatitis outbreaks, and to identify those who require vaccination or to confirm immune status.

The DiaSorin and NLTN co-sponsored training conferences will be presented on May 16, 2007 for “Understanding Hepatitis B”? and June 6, 2007 for “Understanding Hepatitis C.”? Faculty for the hepatitis conferences include Wendi L. Kuhnert, PhD, Centers for Disease Control, D. Robert Dufour, M.D., U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and Dawn Franzmeier, B.A., Product Manager, DiaSorin Inc. Contact NTLN via e-mail at nltnmarketingmgr@nltn.org, or visit www.nltn.org/courses or call 1-800-536-NLTN (6586) to register for any of the training sessions.

About DiaSorin

With corporate headquarters in Saluggia, Italy, and U.S. operations located in Stillwater, Minnesota, DiaSorin develops and manufactures over 300 disease state assays including infectious disease, blood virus, autoimmune, and bone and mineral metabolism. Please visit our website at www.diasorin.com for additional information.

01/06/2007