The Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory (VRDL) provides laboratory support, technical assistance, and research required for the diagnosis, investigation, and control of viral and rickettsial diseases and for the implementation and maintenance of high quality local viral laboratory services in California. VRDL also provides consultation services to the staff of local public health laboratories, State Departments of Public Health and Health Care Services, and other state agencies. For counties not having available public health laboratory services, VRDL functions as the reference and local public health laboratory in its fields of expertise. As part of the Department's laboratory science training program, VRDL trains local public health laboratory personnel in state-of-the-art standardized laboratory procedures.