In 2021, the EURL for Bee health initiated a new format to exchanges within the NRL network. The first EURL webinar was organized on 30th November. The objective was to discuss the activities on viruses for 2022 and later. After a presentation of the advances in the activities on virus disease diagnosis at the EURL, Eric Dubois (virologist at the EURL) opened the discussion with the NRLs on the next proficiency test and the development of a database on the dynamic of bee viruses across Europe. This first webinar lasted for one hour and gave rise to fruitful discussions. The presentation can be found here for the NRL network.

vidéo séminaire

From the third to the fifth of November 2021, took place the 12th World Rabbit Congress in Nantes (France). This congress consisted of three days of conferences, poster sessions, oral sessions, and round tables on a lot of topics including Ethology and Welfare:   de Greef K.H., Rommers J.M. - The Dutch route to improve commercial rabbit welfare – rather collectively than by law enforcement. Dutra D., Villegas-Cayllahua E., Ferrari F., Costa M., Rein A., Silva A., Moraes P., Borba H. - Cage floor enrichment contributes to physical and thermal comfort of fattening rabbits. Fetiveau M., Savietto D., Warin L., Pujol S., Gidenne T., Huang Y., Fortun-Lamothe L.  - Outdoor access for growing rabbits: effect of stocking rate on behaviour and performance. Fortun-Lamothe L., Breda J., Savietto D., Aymard P., Combes S., Gidenne T., Warin L., Huang Y.  -   Space use and exploratory behaviour in growing rabbit housed in large partitioned pens. Gerencsér Zs., Farkas T.P., Nagy I., Odermatt M., Radnai I., Kasza R , Matics Zs., Szendrő Zs. -  Location preference of rabbit does in a pen system combining group and individual housing. Guené-Grand E., Davoust C., Launay C. - A new alternative outdoor housing method (Wellap®) for fattening rabbits: first results. Guené-Grand E., Davoust C., Launay C. - A new alternative outdoor housing method (Wellap®) for fattening rabbits: behavior and space use. Huang Y., Breda J., Savietto D., Debrusse A., Combes S., Gidenne T., Warin L., Fortun-Lamothe L. -   Part-time grouping of rabbit does in enriched housing: effects on spatial position, performance and lesions. Huang Y., Breda J., Savietto D., Labatut D., Pujol S., Combes S., Gidenne T., Warin L., Fortun-Lamothe L.  -   Effect of housing and enrichment on behaviour and performance of growing and reproducing rabbits. Laclef E., Savietto D., Warin L., Huang Y., Bonnemère J.M., Combes S., Gidenne T., Fortun-Lamothe L.  -   Part-time group housing of familiar rabbit does in large partitionned space: effects on performance and behaviour. Pasqualin D., Zomeño C. Santagiuliana M., Dalla Costa A., Trocino A., Lavazza A., Dorigo F., Bonfanti L., Birolo M., Xiccato G., Menegon F., Di Martino G.  -  A protocol for measuring health and welfare of reproducing does and litters in rabbit farms. Ramón-Moragues A.. Martinez-Paredes E.. Villagrá A.  - Differences in milk production and lactation-related behaviours in breeding does housed in individual enriched cages and part-time systems. Rödel H.G. - Aspects of social behavior and repoduction in the wild rabbit – implications for rabbit breeding? Rommers J., de Greef K.  -   Are plastic mats effective for diminishing footpad lesions of rabbit does? – survey after 10 years in The Netherlands. Trocino A., Zomeño C., Birolo M., Pirrone F., Xiccato G.  - Effect of grouping time and group stability on behavior and aggression among rabbit does in a part-time housing system. Van Damme L., Delezie E., Tuyttens F. A. M., Maertens L. - Advances in part-time group housing systems for does: an overview of reproductive performances. Villegas-Cayllahua E., Dutra D., Cavalcanti E., Fidelis H., Montanhim G., Silva A., Moraes P., Borba H. - Assessment of stress during handling of commercial rabbits. Warin L., Mika A., Souchet C., Bouvarel I. - Feasibility and repeatability of the EBENE® welfare assessment measures for rabbits. All the proceedings are available online: http://world-rabbit-science.com/WRSA-Proceedings/Congress-2021-Nantes/Nantes-2021-01.htm

♦ November 17th 2021 ♦  “Real-life” 13th Workshop for Rabies  The EURL Team is pleased to announce the 13th session of Rabies Workshop.  Unlike the previous session which took place online, this session is planned to be organised back in a classical way (face-to-face meeting). The 2022 meeting will held In Warsaw, Poland on 15  and 16 June. Presentations and discussions will be dedicated to the current situation of rabies control and surveillance in EU,as well as progress on laboratory techniques and feedback on previous ILT sessions. 

♦ November 16th 2021 ♦  An inter-laboratory test (ILT) dedicated to rabies molecular biology technique is soon to begin (first quarter of 2022). The registration is now closed. This ILT session will focus on the evaluation of the real-time RT-PCR techniques used in the National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) for the detection of Lyssavirus RNA. Participation to this assay will be open to European Union NRLs members only. The panel to be tested will include coded RNA Lyssavirus samples (with different level of Lyssavirus RNA and different Lyssavirus species, all belonging to the phylogroup 1), negative and positive RNA controls.

♦ 15 November 2021 ♦ The EURL for rabies website is being updated !  We hope you will enjoy it. Here's what's new : - Obselete links are being updated. - A few graphic changes are being implemented. As always, we will do our best to expand the website on a regular basis with additionnal updated information and documentation. More to come soon ! 

We would like to inform the network, that Dr. Alexandra Schoos is replacing Manon Bourg as Head and contact person of the Luxembourguish National Reference Laboratory for Listeria monocytogenes hosted in the State Veterinry Laboratory (LMVE). Official Veterinary, she is the new technical manager of the Microbiologcal Department.

Finally the first EURL Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) on-site training had been successfully arranged since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. The EURL Lm organised a 5-day training session for the Greek NRL for Lm, the Department of Food Hygiene (Directorate of Veterinary Center of Athens, Directorate General of Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Rural Development & Food) in its premises of Athens. This training had involved 5 participants from the GR-NRL Lm, and  1 participant from the Cypriot NRL Lm, State General Laboratory on the GR-NRL's initiative. This kind of on-site training sessions can: allow the NRLs to update/upgrade their competences, strengthen the link with NRLs, strangthen the links between NRLs at local level.

https://marco2021.univ-littoral.fr/  

The EURL for Bee Health held its 11th annual workshop on 22nd and 23rd September 2021 by video conference. This workshop was a success with up to 59 participants connected at the same time. This year, the discussions focused on the American foulbrood and the advantages of new molecular tools for the study and surveillance of this disease. The EURL presented the development of a core genome multilocus sequence typing scheme (cgMLST) for P. larvae (EuroPLarva project), agent of the American foulbrood. Dr. Joakim Skarin from the EURL-Campylobacter, who also participated in this study, presented the diagnostic techniques using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies. Dr. Franco Mutinelli, Head of the Italian NRL, presented a state of play of the occurrence and surveillance of SHB in Southern Italy. Dr. Severine Matthijs, head of the Belgium NRL, gave a talk about the first laboratory results of a field study part of B-GOOD (the Horizon 2020 project). The participants had also the pleasure to listen to a presentation from the Polish NRL representative. Dr. Andrej Bober gave a talk on the Polish NRL activities and the honey bee health status in Poland. The workshop ended by the presentation of the EURL activities during the last period and the work perspectives. We warmly thank all the speakers for their interesting presentations and all the contributors for the fruitful discussions. Documents and presentations of the workshop can be found here for the NRL network.