The 86th OIE General Session was the occasion to give OIE Member Countries, an overview of the global animal health situation, as well as to analyse trends in the evolution of priority terrestrial and aquatic animal diseases. In addition, new disease status were officially recognised for 10 countries (source OIE). Follow the discussions of the 86th OIE General Session on social media :#86SG

♦ 25 May 2018 ♦ Next workshop for rabies is now approaching and will be held in less than one month in Belgium. Although this meeting is exclusively for member of the EURL for rabies network, more than 52 scientists and international institutions registered and will gather in Brussels on 13 and 14 June. The EURL for rabies thank all of them for their trust in its activities. The agenda will cover four sessions over the 2 half-days: International institutions, Round table of rabies epidemiology (EUMS), Round table of rabies epidemiology (Third countries) and Techniques relative to rabies diagnosis. See you in Brussels!  

♦ 24 April 2018 ♦ The Rabies Laboratory of Sciensano (Brussels, former Scientific Institute of Public Health WIV-ISP) is officially recognized as the Belgian National Reference Centre for Human Rabies (NRC Rabies: financed by the National Institute for health and Invalidity Insurance, RIZIV-INAMI) and the National Reference Laboratory for Animal Rabies (NRL Rabies: recognized by the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, FAVV-AFSCA). The lab is also recognized by the European Commission to perform rabies serology in pets in the frame of travel. The rabies laboratory is embedded within the Service of Viral Diseases that performs diagnosis and surveillance of emerging viruses, influenza and other respiratory viruses and vaccine-preventable viral diseases of humans. [Read more…]  

♦ 20 April 2018 ♦ [Relayed from the WHO website] Since the launch of the Global framework to eliminate human rabies transmitted by dogs by 2030 in 2015, WHO has worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control and other stakeholders and partners to prepare a global strategic plan. This includes a country-centric approach to support, empower and catalyse national entities to control and eliminate rabies. In this context, WHO convened its network of collaborating centres on rabies, specialized institutions, members of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Rabies, rabies experts and partners to review strategic and technical guidance on rabies to support implementation of country and regional programmes.  [Read more…]  

♦ 20 April 2018 ♦ [Relayed from the WHO website] In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of vaccines against diseases that have an international public health impact. They summarize essential background information on diseases and vaccines and conclude with the current WHO position on the use of vaccines worldwide. The papers are reviewed by external experts and WHO staff, and reviewed and endorsed by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization. The GRADE methodology is used to systematically assess the quality of the available evidence. The SAGE decision-making process is reflected in the evidence-to-recommendation tables. [Read more…]  

♦ 25 April 2018 ♦ [Relayed from the ANSES website] “Basing itself on philosophical, social and legal interpretations of the concept of animal welfare, this Opinion proposes a definition of animal welfare that takes into account developments in scientific knowledge and summarises analyses by experts regarding the methods required for its assessment. The Opinion identifies numerous assessment grids aiming to objectively measure the conditions for animal welfare and encourages the development of specific tools depending on the species, development stage and environmental conditions of the animals. It provides an essential framework for ANSES's future research and expert appraisal work, and will serve as a basis for subsequent Opinions in this area. [Read more…]  

Abstract A Brucella suis biovar 1 infection was diagnosed in a dog without typical exposure risks, but the dog had been fed a raw meat-based diet (hare carcasses imported from Argentina). Track and trace investigations revealed that the most likely source of infection was the dog's raw meat diet.

Together with a significant upgrade of the MicrobesGenotyping web interface (version 1.4.0) the Brucella database has been updated in April 2018. It now contains genotype from 5611 strains, including more than 900 in silico deduced profiles. (source MLVA-NET)

KEY FACTS In 2015, 439 confirmed brucellosis cases were reported in the EU/EEA.  The notification rate in the EU/EEA was 0.1 cases per 100 000 population.  The highest rate was detected in 25–64-year-old males (0.14 cases per 100 000 population).  The notification rate was stable during the period 2011–2015.  The highest rates were reported in southern Member States (Greece, Bulgaria, and Portugal). (source ECDC: Annual Epidemiological report for 2015)