The EURL for Bee Health held its 9th. annual workshop on 16th. October 2019 at ANSES Sophia Antipolis. This year the EURL presented the feedback on the three interlaboratory proficiency tests (ILPT) organised in 2018-2019, on the small hive beetle (SHB), Paenibacillus larvae and Tropilaelaps as well as the ILPTs scheduled in 2020. Since the last annual workshop, methods were also developed and/or validated for the quantification of pesticides multiresidues in nectar, for the identification of SHB eggs, for the determination of diagnosis thresholds of viral diseases and for the identification of bacteria causing foulbroods. The analysis of the adoption process of the method for the quantification of six viruses was also described and the results of the enquiry on queen cages importation were shown. In addition, the EURL presented a guidance document for the management of the infestation by SHB in the soil. This document was produced by a working group including the EURL and four European NRLs and released on the EURL website network in April 2019. The participants had also the pleasure to listen to presentations from four NRL representatives. Dr. Ivana Tlak Gajger, head of the Croatian NRL and Dr. Sirpa Heinikainen, representative of the Finnish NRL, gave a talk on their activities and the honey bee health status in their respective countries. Dr. Oureilidis Konstantinos, representative of the Greek NRL, presented the programme of surveillance for the infestation by SHB set up in Greece. Finally, Dr. Franco Mutinelli, Head of the Italian NRL, presented a state of play of the occurrence and surveillance of SHB in Southern Italy. We thank all the speakers for their interesting presentations and all the contributors for the fruitful discussions. Documents of this workshop are available here for the NRL network.

[relayed from @OIE Animal Health] #OIEInternationalStandrads are at disposal of #OIE Member Countries to build resilient animal health systems and support them in the challenges faced in terms of on #animalhealth and #animalwelfare.   The OIE develops and revises OIE International Standards which contribute to: - improving animal health and welfare, as well as human health - improving the economic and social well-being of populations - ensuring fair and balanced trade These standards are continually updated to keep pace with scientific developments.

The EURL team organised the second 2019 training session on the 3rd and 4th of October at ANSES. This 2-day training session focused on control of ELISAs and Rose Bengale (RB) antigens and regrouped eight participants from Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands.    During the practical training, a successful control was performed for one serum ELISA kit and two Rose Bengale antigens. It was a good opportunity to exchange on critical points of reagents controls and share experience on protocols and reagents.   Documents are available on the website in the section Documentation / Training documents.

About 100 participants gathered at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan in the framework of the Biosurveillance Network of the Silk Road. The following countries were represented: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Urkaine, Modavlie, Uzbekistan, Byelorussia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. It should be noted that this network has recently expanded to Bulgaria and Romania. The meeting is dedicated to the purpose of strengthening approaches, which are the basis for effective preparedness to prevent, respond and recover from communicable disease threats, within One health Approach.   The first day was focusing on the Economic burden of zoonotic diseases as wekk as Networking & regional collaboration. Economical references from recent "One Health" reports (such as World Bank, 2018) were presented together with results from the Network for the Evaluation of One Health.    The second day provided an update on the Epidemiology of different zoonoses in the BNSR countries, including data on brucellosis. Claire Ponsart animated the "Animal Health" session and was invited to give a presentation on "Brucella genus: a high genetic homology together with a wide host range".  The third day was dedicated to existing surveillance systems and the prevention of biological incidents, with the participation of INTERPOL and a representative of USEUCOM (US European Command).   A report of this mission will be published in the next EURL Newsletter.

[relayed from www.crawd.org] The 2019 International Brucellosis Society (Annual Brucellosis Research Conference) will be held Saturday, November 2 – Sunday, November 3, from 8am to 5pm, as a CRWAD satellite organization. Scheduled guest keynote speakers include Drs. Sergio Costa Oliveira and Elizabeth A. Rucks. For further information or an invitation, please contact Sue D. Hagius (shagius@agcenter.lsu.edu). Attendance requires a separate registration; abstract submission details are available from Sue.   Dates:   November 2-3, 2019   Venue:  Chicago Marriott, Downtown Magnificent Mile, Chicago, IL   Abstract Submissions Deadlines: September 20, 2019   Conference Email:  shagius@agcenter.lsu.edu   CRWAD Website:  www.crwad.org   Conference Hotel Block:  https://crwad.org/crwad2019/hotel-reservations/     Looking forward to seeing you in Chicago! 

The 12th edition was very successful regrouping 41 participants and 33 countries at the Animal Health Laboratory, ANSES. For the first time, a representative from Serbia attended the workshop. Following the first session describing EURL activities, fruitful discussions were held on molecular approaches. Exchanges on Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) approaches were boosted by our invited speakers, Pimlapas Leekitcharoenphon (DTU), Giuliano Garofolo (IZSAM) and Benjamin Felix (ANSES, EURL for Listeria) sharing their experience on WGS-based identification of bacteria. Oral communications related to characterization of Brucella strains were further presented by National Reference Laboratories of Croatia (Silvio Spicic) and United Kingdom (Roland Ashford). The second day was focusing on serological methods: Jiabo Ding (from the Institute of Veterinary Drug Control, China) and John Mc Given (APHA, UK) presented results of promising serological approaches aiming to differentiate vaccinated and infected animals. Finally, a representative of DG SANTE (Jostein Dragset) presented an update of delegated acts to be implemented in the framework of the Animal Health Law. Presentations will be soon available on the 2019 Workshop webpage. Thanks to all speakers and participants for their excellent contributions ! #EURL #WGS #Brucellosis #AHL #ANSES

In December 2018, the United Nations declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). This initiative, implemented by FAO and IPPC, have the intention of raising awareness that protecting plant health is crucial for environmental protection, economic development and reducing poverty and hunger. The IYPH focus is on preventing plant pests and diseases from spreading. To find out more about IYPH information, actions, messages, and events visit the official website www.ippc.int/en/iyph/ 

The EURL for fungi and oomycetes website is operative from 26th of September 2019. The aim of this website is to be a source or information for the general public, as well as the meeting point for all European National Reference Laboratories (EU NRLs) in mycology. For this, a common working space has been created, called 'NRLs Workspace', available for NRLs staff after registration on the website. To register to the website, please, send us an email with your request, indicating your NRL, and we will send you an activation key, needed to complete the formulary to open an account. The main services available through the website are: General information about EU regulations about plant health. EURL missions and work plan for the current working period. EU NRLs network and contact details. Information about past and future trainings and workshops organized by the EURL for fungi and oomycetes. Organization of proficiency tests. Access and registration to LEILA platform, a software to perform proficiency tests.  Information about the EURL fungal and oomycete collection and request of strains. EU quarantine fungal pathogens list. Link to EPPO and IPPC diagnostic protocols for the quarantine organisms listed by EU and in our work program. Lists of validated and approved reagents for diagnostic purposes. Diagnostic protocols, validated by the EURL.  EURL monthly newsletter addressed to NRLs, with information about EURL activities and updates on plant pathology (new research published, new protocols, ...). To contact us, we have a corporate email address, eurl-fungi@anses.fr, and a twitter account (@EURL_fungi).

Sevilla 19-21 October 2020 https://eavld2020.org/

On the 8th of August, ICA (Instituto Agropecuario Colombiano) has confirmed the presence of the devastating plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense, tropical race 4 (Foc TR4, or recently renamed as F. odoratissimum), in two banana plantations in La Guajira, Colombia. Strong quarantine and contingency measures were taken when the presence of the pathogen was suspected early this summer, and after the confirmation, the state of emergency has been declared in the country. This is the first report of the disease in South America, one of the most important banana producer regions worldwide, where the industry is key to their economy.   Further details in the links below: ICA (in Spanish): https://www.ica.gov.co/noticias/ica-amplia-y-refuerza-las-medidas-que-ya-venia-im Science (in English): https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/colombia-confirms-dreaded-fungus-has-hit-its-banana-plantations