♦ 30 July 2015 ♦ [Relayed from the Eurobats website] EUROBATS has developed guidelines for assessing potential impacts of wind turbines on bats and for planning, construction and operation of wind turbines in accordance with the ecological requirements of bat populations. A first version of the guidelines was published in 2008, having the primary purpose to raise awareness amongst developers and planners of the need to consider bats and their roosts, migration routes and foraging areas. A large amount of research has been carried out into the impacts of wind turbines on bats and the increased knowledge urged for this revision of the document. The revised guidelines are applicable to larger wind farm developments in urban as well as in rural areas, on the land as well as offshore. Some case studies were included to illustrate implementation of mitigation measures in some countries. The EUROBATS Publication Series deals with various aspects of bat conservation - sometimes reporting of the implementation of the EUROBATS Agreement in the Range States, sometimes providing guidance on the best ways to protect bats and their habitats.  

♦ 23 July 2015 ♦ An annual activity questionnaire was sent to all National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) to collect and collate data on methods used and results of tests carried out in the European Community in the frame of rabies control programmes (Commission regulations (EU) No.737/2008 and No.415/2013). This document reviews the 2014 analysis performed in 24 NRLs from the European Union and in 6 NRLs from third countries involved in a rabies control programme. It is now available online.

♦ 30 July 2015 ♦ New! The EURL for rabies newsletter now exists in .pdf format! Previous newsletters issues can be read in a printable version in the private part of the EURL for rabies website. To access the private part, please register.  

♦ 27 July 2015 ♦ The Laboratory for Rabies is one of the three laboratories in Czech Republic. Since July 2007 the Laboratory is recognized as a National Reference Laboratory for Rabies. The laboratory is also an EU approved laboratory for serological testing regarding rabies in dogs, cats and ferrets in the frame of pets travel since 2005. Main laboratory routine activities are connected with rabies surveillance and rabies monitoring programmes. The monitoring programme in Czech Republic is conducted as a part of the oral vaccination campaigns which has been finished in autumn 2009. The equipment is sufficient for routine diagnostic procedures (FAT and MIT). See details of the laboratory  

♦ 30 June 2015 ♦ The presentations of the workshop for rabies 2015 are now online in the private part of the EURL for rabies website. Please remember that only registered scientists of our network can have access to this part of the website. Scientists without access can request an access to the private part via the “register” button and the “Create an account” link. Further to the workshop for rabies 2015, a report showing statistics and the results of the satisfaction questionnaires is also available online.  

♦ 01 July 2015 ♦ A total of 45 laboratories participated to the 2015 inter-laboratory test for rabies diagnosis. Results should now all be sent back and online questionnaires filled out. The data will be analysed during the summer and the report released during the autumn.  

♦ 06 July 2015 ♦ The Virology section is one of the five sections of the Animal Health Laboratory (AHL) at Veterinary Services of Cyprus. It is accredited since March 2008 to the terms of the ELOT EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005 Standard by  the Hellenic Accreditation System (ESYD) and Cyprus Accreditation Body (CYSAB). History of rabies and methods In 1930, two Rabies positive incidents were investigated in imported dogs under quarantine. Since then Rabies has never been diagnosed in domestic animals and wildlife or in humans on the island. Nevertheless, wild carnivores that are found dead, stray dogs caught crossing or roaming along the buffer zone, imported animals dying during the quarantine period or animals with symptoms consistent with rabies infection are always investigated using the methods of FAT and RT-PCR. Rabies team The rabies team is consisted of Dr. Apostolos Mazeris (DVM, PhD and head of the Virology section of AHL), Dr. Vasiliki Christodoulou (DVM, PhD) and 3 laboratory technicians:  Maria Nicolaou, Fotini Nicolaou, and Yiota Panayi working on rabies diagnosis and prevention.  

♦ 01 July 2015 ♦ The EURL informed most of you in the course of June that Fujirebio conjugate and also Millipore anti-rabies conjugates, were in shortage in the US and that you could meet difficulties to purchase Millipore product to replace the Fujirebio conjugate. We are pleased to inform you that the Fujirebio conjugate is now available again. We invite the laboratories to check the working dilution of this new batch to possibly adapt it in order to guarantee a satisfactory detection sensitivity. In case you have questions or meet some problems, you should contact the EURL.  

♦ 17 June 2015 ♦ The EURL will organize in 2016 a proficiency test based on the rabies antibody detection in wildlife samples. The main objective of this proficiency test will be to have an overview of the performances of the techniques and protocols undertaken by the NRLs to titrate rabies antibodies in wildlife samples. Considering the number of different techniques in use in Europe (cell neutralisation tests and ELISAs), the ultimate objective for the coming years would be to try to get a better harmonisation of results obtained by the NRLs within the European Union Member States. To be able to plan the proficiency test organization and to define properly the panel of samples to be tested and how it will be proceeded in term of financial repartition (depending on the number of labs involved), the EURL sent in June 2015 a call for interest to the NRLs from EU-MS. Any Non-EU NRL that would also be interested in participating to such a proficiency test should contact the EURL.  

♦ 05 May 2015 ♦ Since 2002 the Austrian NRL for Rabies is settled in the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Institute for Veterinary Disease Control (www.ages.at), the former Federal Institute for Veterinary Disease Control. Tasks Our main task area is processing of diagnostic samples. We are the only laboratory in Austria performing diagnostic examinations on rabies; antigen- as well as antibody detection. Staff and outbreak management Members of three departments are involved in all these examinations. Therefore, in case of a rabies outbreak, enough trained staff will be available.   Pathology Center East Mödling FAT, Immunohistochemistry, Collecting and preparing the samples for the departments of Virology and Molecular Biology. Department for Virology RTCIT, FAVN (Pet travel scheme as well as human samples), Bait titration, Tetracyclin detection, ELISA for antibody detection in foxes. Department for Molecular Biology Real-Time RT-PCR, Conventional RT-PCR, DNA sequencing, Phylogenetic analysis. Rapid and sensitive procedure in case of human ante mortem diagnosis, Sequencing for genotyping and epidemiological analysis of positive samples. All methods are accredited according ISO 17025 since 2004. For the examination of “high risk animals” e.g. clinical suspect illegal imported pets a journal service of a veterinarian and a technician on call is organized over the year. We work in close cooperation with the advisory board for human rabies of AGES, especially concerning human ante mortem diagnosis or recommendation of vaccination. In case of an outbreak of rabies, the Federal Ministry of Health is responsible for organization of oral vaccination campaigns of foxes and compensation of hunters, representation of Austria in the EC and billing the co-financing of the EU. Rabies eradication in Austria At the beginning of the 1990s Austria started a very efficient concerted campaign of oral vaccination of foxes (ORV) Fig.1. Fig.1. During these campaigns, two cases of vaccine associated rabies were diagnosed. 2004   The last case of human rabies in Austria was diagnosed. A young Austrian man was bitten by a rabid dog in Morocco. 2008   Austria declared free from rabies. 2010   Austria switched to sampling plan for monitoring the success of the ORV: four adult foxes/km² from rabies free areas and eight adult foxes from vaccination areas have to be examined, additional Tetracycline detection and ELISA to proof the success of ORV were done. In the years before much more foxes were examined. 2013   Due to the good epidemic situation in the neighbour states, ORV was suspended and only indicator animals (foxes, badgers, raccoons and raccoon dogs, found death or victims of road traffic), clinical suspect animals and animals with human exposure were examined (ca. 350/year) During all these years samples from animals submitted for rabies diagnostics, were sampled for other scientific issues e.g. “Presence of Trichinella sp. in the Austrian fox population”, Distribution of Echinococcus multilocularis in the Austrian fox population. Publications Krause, R., Bagó, Z., Revilla-Fernández, S., Loitsch, A., Allerberger, F., Kaufmann, P., Smolle, K.H., Brunner, G., Krejs, G.J. (2005): Travel-associated human rabies in an Austrian man. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 11, 719 – 721. Bagó, Z., Revilla-Fernández, S., Allerberger, F., Krause, R. (2005): Value of immunohistochemistry for rapid ante mortem rabies diagnostics. Letter to the editor. Int. J. Infect. Dis. 9, 351 – 352. Strauss, R., Gränz, A., Wassermann-Neuhold, M., Krause, R., Bagó, Z., Revilla Fernández, S., Simón-Soria, F.S., Echevarría, J.E., Popow-Kraupp, T., Allerberger, F., Schönbauer, M., Hrabcik, H. (2005): A case of travel-related rabies in Austria, September 2004. Eurosurveillance 10, 225 – 226. Fischer M., Wernike K., Freuling C.M., Mü ller T., Aylan O., Brochier B., Cliquet F., Vázquez-Morón S., Hostnik P., Huovilainen A., Isaksson M, Kooi E.A., Mooney J., Turcitu M., Rasmussen T.B., Revilla-Fernández S., Smreczak M, Fooks A.R., Marston D.A., Beer M., Hoffmann B. (2013): Step Forward in Molecular Diagnostics of Lyssaviruses – Results of a Ring Trial among European Laboratories. PLOS ONE, Volume 8 | Issue 3 | e58372 Mcelhinney L.M., Marston D., Johnson N.,Black C., Matouch O., Lalosevic D., Stankov S., Must K., Smreczak M., Zmudzinski J.F., Botvinkin A., Aylan O., Vanek E., Cliquet F., M...