♦ 05 May 2015 ♦ [Relayed from the OIE] The 2015 edition of the “OIE from A to Z” is already available. As usual, the “OIE A-Z 2015” can be found online, directly from the homepage of the OIE website. This new edition presents several novelties which will greatly facilitate your work as decision-makers in the field of animal health and welfare. All the chapters have been updated, and numerous interactive documents and links have been added. We invite you to explore this dedicated website and to discover its different chapters: •    The general presentation of the Organisation and the role of the representatives of its 180 Member Countries; •    The Veterinary Services and their role in matters of animal health, public health and animal welfare; •    The OIE standards applicable in matters of animal health, including zoonosis; •    The OIE’s World Animal Health Information System: WAHIS/WAHID; •    The official disease statuses of Member Countries with respect to several priority animal diseases; •    The OIE’s global scientific network, the central core that enables the OIE to remain at the forefront of world veterinary scientific expertise and successfully carry out its key missions; •    The OIE Publications chapter, which includes normative texts, serial publications and the proceedings of international conferences, aimed at informing public debate and policy development worldwide.

♦ 22 May 2015 ♦ Congratulations to Latvia! The Self-declaration by Latvia of freedom from rabies submitted to the OIE on 8 December 2014 by Dr Maris Balodis, Delegate of Latvia to the OIE, Director General, Chief Veterinary Officer, Food and Veterinary Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Riga was recently published on the OIE bulletin No.2015-1. Latvia established a surveillance and eradication programme in wildlife and domestic animals as well as preventive measures (compulsory vaccination of domestic animals, oral vaccination of wildlife and information campaigns). The country has not reported any rabies cases during the past two years and then complies to the conditions to be considered a rabies-free country in accordance with Article 8.12.3. of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (2014). Related OIE bulletin pages can be consulted here. Congratulations for the hard work done all this latter years!  

♦ 1st June 2015 ♦ A panel of 9 brain samples was sent on 1st June to 47 participating laboratories. Please do not forget to send back your results before 1st July and to fill in the online technical questionnaires. Should you encounter any problems with the reception of the parcel or with the application of the test, do not hesitate to contact us. We wish you all a good test!  

♦ 27-28 May 2015 ♦ The rabies EURL annual meeting gathered a total of 52 people. Many thanks and all our gratitude to our colleagues from the Croatian Veterinary Institute and to the Veterinary and Food Safety Directorate who made this event possible and successful. We also would like to warmly thank the European Commission and TAIEX for their support for travel and accommodation, as well as all the attendants and speakers for their contribution in this annual date. A Croatian veterinary newspaper article dedicated to this workshop is available here. This meeting gave the opportunity of many exchanges between attendants. As usual, a booklet with the abstracts of the talks was provided to every participant. All presentations will be soon on line in the restricted access part of the website. A photo souvenir is available here. Attendants eligible for the EC financial support have to send their original documents before 12 June.

♦ 03 April 2015 ♦ The Laboratory for Rabies is one of the three laboratories in the department of virology at Croatian Veterinary Institute. Since 2011 Laboratory is recognized as a National Reference Laboratory for Rabies. The laboratory is also a EU approved laboratory for serological testing regarding rabies in dogs, cats and ferrets in the frame of pets travel. Main laboratory routine activities are connected with rabies surveillance and rabies monitoring programs. Monitoring program is conducted as a part of oral vaccination campaigns which has been started in 2011. During 2014 around 1000 samples have been tested as a part of surveillance program and around 3000 samples as part of monitoring program. The last rabies positive case has been recorded in February 2014.   Methods In laboratory the following methods are used: o Fluorescence antibody test (FAT), o Fluorescence virus neutralisation test (FAVN), o Tissue culture infective test (TCIT), o Molecular techniques (RT-PCR and QRT-PCR), o Complete genome sequencing, o OTC determination, o Age determination o Baits titration. FAT and FAVN methods are accredited according to ISO17025.   Fields of research Laboratory Research activities are mainly connected with rabies particularly in the field of Rabies epidemiology and diagnostic techniques. Recently, the research regarding stem cells and viral metagenomic were ongoing.     Staff The Laboratory represented by six agents is headed by Dr Tomislav Bedeković: Ivana Lojkić, Scientist; PhD in molecular biology, Deputy Head Nina Krešić, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Ivana Šimić, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine; Ines Ugrin, Technician Mirjana Frljužec, Technician Recent rabies publication: Bedeković, T., Lemo N, Lojkić I, Mihaljević Z, Jungić A, Cvetnić Z, Cač Z, Hostnik P. (2013). Modification of the fluorescent antibody virus neutralisation test - elimination of the cytotoxic effect for the detection of rabies virus neutralising antibodies. Journal of Virological Methods.  189, 204-208. Lojkić, Ivana; Bedeković, Tomislav; Čač, Željko; Lemo, Nina; Cvetnić, Željko (2013). Clinical rabies in cattle imported into Croatia. Veterinary record. 172, 22-23. Lojkić, Ivana; Čač, Željko; Bedeković, Tomislav; Lemo, Nina; Brstilo, Mate; Müller, Thomas; Freuling, Conrad M. (2012). Diversity of currently circulating rabies virus strains in Croatia. Berliner und Münchener tierärztliche Wochenschrift. 125, 249-254.  

♦ 30 April 2015 ♦ [Relayed from the OIE website] World Veterinary Day was instigated by the World Veterinary Association (WVA) in 2000 to be celebrated annually on the last Saturday of April. In 2008 the WVA and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) agreed on the creation of the World Veterinary Day Award aimed at rewarding the most successful celebration of the contribution of the veterinary profession to society. The winner of the 2015 Award will be announced at the Opening Ceremony of the OIE 83rd General Session to be held in Paris, France on 24 May 2015 and will be invited to the 32nd World Veterinary Congress, 13-17 September in Istanbul, Turkey where he/she will receive the price of 1.000 US$. The competition is open to all WVA veterinary associations, alone, or in cooperation with any other selected veterinary body. The selected theme for 2015 are the vector-borne diseases with a zoonotic potential. More info on http://www.oie.int/en/for-the-media/press-releases/detail/article/world-veterinary-day-award-2015/  

♦ 19 April 2015 ♦ Pr. Paul Pierre Pastoret, professor of Virology at the Veterinary Faculty of Liège (Belgium), sadly died this month. He was very world widely known in the veterinary community. At the end of the 1980s, he has initiated the development of the recombinant Vaccinia-Rabies virus vaccine and its use in the field for oral vaccination of wildlife in Belgium. He worked closely with the rabies scientists of Anses-Nancy to organize field trials of oral vaccination at borders and in research projects. He is one of the key scientists as regards the vulpine rabies elimination in Belgium in 2001 and is internationally famous all over Europe and the United States of America. His contribution through scientific publications and books to the study of several other animal viruses (such as herpesvirus, pestivirus and rotavirus) is also world-widely recognized. The EURL for rabies addresses its most sincerest condolences to both his family and colleagues. Besides the immense professional competence and knowledge of Paul Pierre, we will keep in memory his generosity, humanity, honesty and  his sense of humour.

♦ 04 May 2015 ♦ A panel of 9 brain samples will be sent to all laboratories on the same day and under the same conditions. Date of shipment is 1st June 2015. Laboratories which have sent all documents (import permit when needed, and unilateral commitment fully initialled, signed and stamped) before this date will receive the panel. In order to respect the time schedule and to have all results included in the final report, the test will have to be undertaken in the course of June and results will have to be sent back to the EURL for rabies on 1st July at the latest, along with the answers given on the online questionnaires. As usual, there will be one questionnaire for each technique. Participants will be invited to fill one questionnaire per each tested technique. The final report should be issued in early Autumn 2015.  

♦ 30 April 2015 ♦ The rabies EURL annual meeting will gather 55 people. This meeting will bring together National Reference Labs from Member States and from third countries bordering EU, including those from North Africa. On the first half-day, presentations will focus on the techniques relative to oral vaccination control and rabies update from several participating countries. On the second half-day, European (EFSA) and Global Institutions (WHO, IAEA) will present their activities before the diagnostic and the molecular biology sessions. The last update of the agenda can be found here.  

♦ 30 April 2015 ♦ Each year, the EURL is in charge of elaborating a technical report detailing all rabies activities undertaken and their outputs in the frame of the regulations No 737/2008 and 415/2013. The document is available for members of the EURL network (need to use your login and password to open the restricted access of the website).