♦ 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.