Bertrand LOMBARD convened the 28th meeting of WG 2 Statistics of ISO/TC 34/SC 9 "Food products-Microbiology", held at Campden BRI, Campden UK, on 18-19 October. The main topic on the agenda was the revision of ISO/TS 19036, dealing with measurement uncertainty for quantitative determinations. This project is led by Basi JARVIS (Project Leader), Keith JEWEL and Paul IN'T VELD (co-Project Leaders). More precisely, WG 2 has given a follow-up to the ISO/CEN vote on ISO/DIS 19036. This vote had a very positive outcome with 100% approvals but with many comments. All comments have been reviewed, a new draft is being prepared by WG 2 which will be then submitted to final vote in 2019. It is expected that the revised standard be published by the end of 2019. Other topics have been also dealt, including statistical aspects related to method validation/verification (EN ISO 16140 series), validation of calculation tools.  

[relayed from EFSA & ECDC] This report of the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control presents the results of zoonoses monitoring activities carried out in 2017 in 37 European countries (28 Member States (MS) and nine non‐MS).

The working group composed by volunteering LNRs or representants of competent authorities from Italy, Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands met from 20 to 22 november in Maisons-Alfort. Ludivine BONANNO & Hélène BERGIS have chaired this meeting which aim was to finalise the training package for shelf life studies dedicated to Lm. We are happy to inform you that the package should by finalised by the end of the year.    

On 27 November 2018, Alexandra CAUQUIL, Project leader of the revision of EN ISO 6888 part 2, and Bertrand LOMBARD participated to the meeting of the Working Group 13 (of ISO/TC 34/SC 9) dedicated to the revision of 6888. After the publication of the 2nd Amendment of the 1st part in July 2018 concerning the optional confirmation by RPFA, the purpose of this meeting was the harmonisation of the 3 parts of the Standard Methods. At this stage the aim is to prepare the DIS for the 1st trimester 2019. Next meeting of the working group 13 will be on 11 December.  

The EURL team is attending the International Brucellosis Society Meeting, taking place in Chicago this weekend (December 2 & 3). Guillaume Girault and Luca Freddi presented two oral communications on the development of our High Resolution Melting PCR tool and on our recent investigations in domestic frogs respectively. Both slide presentations will be added to the EURL website for the NRLs network. A summary of the main findings presented during the conference will be reported in our next EURL Newsletter.     

On October 31 and November 1st, IVDC (Institute for Vet Drug Control) organised the First International Symposium on Brucellosis in Beijing, regrouping more than 250 scientists, stakeholders together with international experts from France (P Boireau, C Ponsart), Ethiopia (A Gelaw), Germany (H Neubauer), Israël (M Banai) and USA (Oliver He). During the opening ceremony, IVDC has been nominated as National Reference Lab for Brucellosis. The meeting provided very interesting updated information on the Chinese epidemiological  situation, research projects and control strategies.

ECDC and EFSA have published on 25/10/2018 a Rapid Outbreak Assessment. Please find the links on EFSA website: the news, the report.

Note prepared by the EU RL for Honeybee Health (Laboratory of  Anses Sophia Antipolis) Updated news (11th. December 2018) To see the details of the outbreaks observed in 2017, please click here. 

Alexandra CAUQUIL & Noémie VINGADASSALON organised a training session held in Cyprus on 27-28 September. This training session was dedicated to the detection of se genes in CPS strains by real-time PCR for 2 Cyprus NLRs : LCFAO of Cyprus (Marios Evangelou, Christina Kamilari, Elli Karavi, Christos Kourtis, Katiana Neophytou and Georgios Papageorgiou) SGL of Cyprus (Costas Arsenoglou and Maria Emmanouil)

On the 4th and 5th of October, a group of 5 participants from the European network of reference laboratories for Brucellosis were welcomed at ANSES, Animal Health Laboratory for a 2-day training session in bacteriology. Representatives from Croatia, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain were trained to working conditions in the Biosafety level 3 laboratory and to phenotypical typing techniques. Each participant had the opportunity to practice preparation of samples (lymph nodes) and performed main bacteriological tests to identify a panel of 5 different Brucella strains. The EURL team prepared different culture isolates in order to demonstrate growth characteristics, culture on dyes and phage lyses profiles. The administrative and logistical aspects were ensured by Marie-France Devaux. The technical demonstrations and practical work were done by Ludivine Perrot and Benoît Taunay, assisted by Luca Freddi and Claire Ponsart. As with each training session of the EURL for Brucellosis, a guided tour of the Fragonard Museum was organized at the end of the first day to raise awareness of the veterinary heritage of the Alfort Vet Campus.