♦ 27 August 2017 ♦

[Relayed from ec.europa.eu] “EU official control rules are a key element of the governance of the agri-food chain in Europe, which are recognised world-wide as an example of best practice. Those rules provide national enforcers and the Commission with the necessary powers to ensure effective enforcement of regulatory requirements, and with mechanisms that allow the full cooperation of all parties involved in ensuring the correct application of the law across national borders. The Official Controls Regulation also provides the Commission with audit and control powers in the Member States and Third Countries, and with the power to take action at EU level. The Official Controls Regulation (EU) 2017/625 addresses official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products (Official Controls Regulation - OCR). The new rules replace Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 on official controls and other legislation which currently governs the control and enforcement of rules along the agri-food chain.” New regulation is available here and on the eur-lex.europa.eu website.
 

♦ 05 September 2017 ♦

[Relayed from endrabiesnow.org website] The Partners for Rabies Prevention gathered at Wolfsberg, Switzerland on August 31st - September 1st, 2017 for their tenth annual meeting. The group comprised over 40 representatives from 27 organizations, reflecting a diverse range of stakeholders in rabies control, including International organizations, rabies experts, academics, vaccine manufacturers and Non-Governmental Organizations. Together, they endorsed the global goal of Zero human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies by 2030, and evaluated the progress, particularly related to health economics and universal capacity building tools developed in recent years. (Read more…)
 

♦ 22 August 2017 ♦ 

Organisation of the veterinary laboratory diagnostic in Slovenia: National veterinary institute (NVI) is special Organization unit of Veterinary faculty at the University of Ljubljana. It operates as public institution of national interest. National reference laboratory for rabies is part of Unit for virology within NVI. The Unit for virology is located in specialized facilities for laboratory investigation of viral diseases. NVI performs the activities determined by the law on the veterinary service, on the basis of the concession contract signed between Slovene Veterinary Administration and NVI. Special systemization of NVI is approved by Veterinary Administration. NVI is only EU authorized laboratory for testing of blood samples in the frame of pets since 2005.
Activities and services: - Monitoring of literature, legislations and development of rabies diagnostics and coordination of the diagnostic methods. - Processing of diagnostic samples. - Rabies diagnosis and antibody testing in wildlife and domestic animals. - Participation in the preparation of programs for oral vaccination of foxes against rabies. - Monitoring of the success of oral vaccination of foxes. - Characterization and genotyping of the rabies virus isolates. - Cooperation with veterinary authorities. - Research activity in the field of rabies.  - Collaboration with EURL for rabies and other UR reference centers.
Diagnostic capabilities: - Fluorescent antibody test (FAT). - Rabies tissue culture isolation test (RTCIT). - Rabies virus in vaccine baits titration. - OTC determination. - Ages of foxes determination. - One step RT-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) specific for different Lyssavirus species. - One-step real-time RT-PCR (RTq-PCR). - Sanger nucleotide sequencing. - Next generation sequencing: Ion Torrent technology. Full article and graphs on the NRL presentation section.