EURL rabies
Collection of samples, techniques, validation and interpretation of the diagnostic methods for the purposes of rabies surveillance are presented here.
Diagnostic methods considered compliant are presented in the WOAH rabies manual. A list of procedures inspired by the WOAH official methods is also proposed.
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Inter-laboratory test for tetracycline determination on teeth 2014
Inter-laboratory test for rabies diagnosis 2014
♦ 11 July 2014 ♦
The inter-laboratory test for rabies diagnosis is now over. Fifty laboratories were involved in this trial using at least one of the FAT, RTCIT, conventional and/or real time RT-PCR technique. All participants had to test a single panel of 9 coded samples within a month.
The analysis of the results is now under progress and the report should be issue during the autumn 2014.
Workshop for rabies 2015
♦ 27 June 2014 ♦
As too many rabies events and meetings are currently organised during the autumn season, the EURL team decided to postpone next workshop to the spring season. Consequently, there will be no workshop for rabies in 2014. From 2015 and on, workshops will be held annually each spring.
The 7th EURL workshop for Rabies will be held on 27th and 28th May 2015 in Zagreb, Croatia.
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Workshop for rabies 2013
♦ 21 February 2014 ♦
The 6th workshop for rabies was held on 13th and 14th November 2013 in Athens, Greece. The choice of this Member State as host country was decided following the re-emergence of rabies in the North of the country in October 2012.
Fifty-six participants from thirty-nine National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) from European Union and third countries attended the meeting. An American rabies expert, two representatives from the European Commission and EFSA, and a delegation from the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food also participated to the workshop.
Presentations and discussions focussed on rabies diagnosis tools, including a comparison study on various real time RT-PCR kits and on a new test using direct rapid immunohistochemistry. Other presentations dealt with the control and the epidemio-surveillance of rabies issues. The recent cases of imported rabid animals in the Netherlands, Spain, and France were also discussed.
Presentations as well as the report of this workshop are available in the documentation part of the EURL website (restricted area).
Inter-laboratory test for rabies diagnosis 2014
♦ 04 February 2014 ♦
Registration for participation to the inter-laboratory test for diagnosis is now over. Fifty laboratories will participate on one or more techniques (FAT, RTCIT, Conventional and/or real time RT-PCR). The samples will be sent end of May for a test performance in June 2014.
Participants will be asked to answer an online questionnaire for each technique used. It aims to compare the procedures used in laboratories and will help to highlight the influences of variations on the results obtained during the trial.
European Union Reference Laboratory team presentation
Reference collection
Last update: 29/07/2025
Rabies disease
Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease (animal disease that can be transmitted to humans) caused by a virus of the genus Lyssavirus. Excreted in the saliva of infected mammals in the final phases of the disease, the virus is generally transmitted to another animal or to humans through biting. Contamination may also occur if the saliva of an infected animal comes into contact with an open wound or a mucous membrane. Without post-exposure treatment prior to the onset of clinical signs, the disease is invariably fatal.
Rabies, which causes over 59,000 human deaths a year worldwide, is found all over the world, except in certain areas such as Antarctica. Several European countries have become rabies-free in non flying mammals thanks to oral vaccination programmes of wildlife.
There are 16 different rabies virus species, seven of which transmission to human has already been notified. Those species are mainly differentiated according to the animal host species. Rabies due to rabies virus species (RABV) is responsible for most human and animal rabies cases.
In industrialised countries, rabies persists mainly in wild animals, whereas in many developing countries it remains an endemic disease, with the domestic dog as principal reservoir and main source of human contamination.
In European countries, rabies in dogs was eliminated several decades ago, but it continued to persist and spread in fox and racoon dog populations. Thanks to oral vaccination campaigns conducted in wildlife, the incidence of rabies in both domestic and wild animals in the EU has drastically reduced. Rabies has been eliminated from the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Estonia, Italy, Latvia and Slovenia.The elimination of rabies in non-flying mamals (RABV) in the European Union will be reachable in the next years. In 2018 and 2019, eight (from 3 EU countries) and five (from 2 EU countries) cases, respectively, were reported in the EU.
To detect timely any suspect animal, the rabies situation in all Europe should be continuously monitored, based on surveillance programmes. The illegal importation of infected cats and dogs from endemic countries remains a major concern, with regular rabies alerts occuring (ProMED). In Europe, bat rabies cases are attributed to five different lyssavirus species. While European bat lyssavirus types 1 and 2 are responsible for most bat rabies cases, Bokeloh bat lyssavirus, West Caucasian bat lyssavirus and Lleida bat lyssavirus have occasionnaly been isolated.
Additional documentation
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