♦ 09 June 2017 ♦ The Global alliance for rabies control is launching the 11th World Rabies day and call once again for your events. This year theme is 'Rabies: Zero by 30', to confirm their pledge to eliminate human deaths from canine rabies by 2030. Do not hesitate to register your event on the dedicated website page and to promote World Rabies day among your contacts. The Global alliance for rabies control also call to help them to recognise the individuals and organisations who work tirelessly to prevent rabies in your community and ask you to nominate them for a World Rabies Day Award.  

On October 18th., the EU RL for Honeybee Health organised the third training on honeybee diseases. The training was dedicated to the PCR diagnosis methods (conventional and real-time) for detection, identification and/or quantification of honey bee pathogens. This training was intended for EU NRLs that have little or no experience in the diagnosis of bee diseases by PCR and wish to implement such methods. The requirements and recommendations for implementation of PCR diagnosis described in the international standards (OIE and ISO 17025) were presented. Then, the implementation and the performance of PCR diagnosis methods as long as the interpretation of either qualitative or quantitative results were detailed. Presentations are available for members of the network on the website.

We would  like to announce an important news: the Standard EN ISO 19020 on detection of staphylococcal enterotoxins in food has been published by ISO and CEN, dated June 2017.

The EU RL for Honeybee Health held its 7th. annual workshop on 17th. October 2017. The main activities conducted by the EU RL in 2017 were presented. The agenda focused on the enhancement of diagnostic tools in parasitology, virology and bacteriology, the production of reference materials and the organization of two interlaboratory proficiency tests (ILPTs) in 2017 – one on Nosema spores counting by microscopy and another on the determination of neonicotinoid residues in beebread. Besides the presentation of the main actions and activities conducted by the EU RL, participants had the pleasure to listen to presentations from various NRL representatives. In addition, Dr. Panuwan Chantawannakul (Chiang Mai University, Thailand) was invited to present current knowledge on Tropilaelaps spp. mites. Dr. Metka Pislak Ocepek, from the Slovenian NRL, gave a talk on their activities and the honey bee health status in their country. Hemma Köglberger, from the Austrian NRL presented a surveillance study set up during one year in Austria to collect data on colony losses. Dr. Franco Mutinelli presented a state of play of the occurrence and surveillance of the small hive beetle in Southern Italy and Kirsty Stainton from the British NRL showed the actions set up following the detection of Asian hornet specimens in United Kingdom in 2016. We thank all the speakers for their interesting presentations and to all contributors of this fruitful workshop. Presentations are available for members of the network on the website.

♦ 13-15 June 2017 ♦ Thank you to all of you who registered to one or both meetings that will be held next month in Budapest! A total of ninety-five scientists and representatives of institutions from all over the world have promised to attend either the 9th Workshop for Rabies or the Rabies Serology Meeting, showing the huge concern regarding this disease. See you all in Budapest!  

♦ 29 May 2017 ♦ The sample panels for the 2017 session of the inter laboratory test for rabies diagnosis will be sent on Monday 29th May. Participating laboratories which have not totally complied with the administrative documentation should now hurry as no derogation to this date will be made and samples will be sent only all relevant documents have been sent in time to the EURL for rabies. Laboratories have one month to hand back their results.  

♦ 01 April 2017 ♦ In order to lighten your mailbox and provide you a more concentrated information, please be informed that this EURL newsletter will be distributed every two months from now on. Although the contains of the newsletter remain roughly the same, a new part dedicated to the rabies serology is now included. Any comments – positive or negative – regarding this information letter will be welcome from your part! Should you wish to be added, or retrieved from the mailing list, please let us know using rabies.eu-rl@anses.fr.  

♦ 07 April 2017 ♦ The ANSES Nancy laboratory is accredited for the rabies serology proficiency tests by COFRAC (sole national accreditation body) according to the ISO/CEI 17043 international standard. All details regarding this accreditation can be found on the COFRAC website (in French)  

♦ 04 May 2017 ♦ The annual rabies serology proficiency test is ongoing. Sample panels for this test have been sent to participants willing to renew or obtain their approval in accordance with Commission Decision 2010/436/EU for the purposes of their authorisation to carry out the serological tests to monitor the effectiveness of the anti-rabies vaccination. Result shall be sent back to Anses-Nancy within 45 days after receipt of the panel. More information on approved rabies serology laboratories, including lists of EU and non EU laboratories can be found on the ec.europa.eu website.  

♦ 06 April 2017 ♦ [Relayed from promedmail.org] “The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) is launching [April 2017] an ambitious modernization project of its World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS). WAHIS is the OIE internet-based computer system that processes data on animal diseases in real-time from Member Countries and some non-Member Countries and territories and then informs the international community through its Interface. Ten years after it was launched and 4 years after major upgrades, the demands on the WAHIS information system have outgrown its capacity. Consequently the OIE is in the process of developing a new system (WAHIS+). In order to ensure the new WAHIS+ meets the needs of our stakeholders, we are seeking input from people and organizations using animal health data through the completion of a voluntary survey "Building the new WAHIS+ together", available in English, French and Spanish. The goal of this survey is to determine users' needs regarding data access and display, as well as to provide suggestions for the new WAHIS+.” Read more on promedmail.org