The EURL Team is pleased to launch a call for participation in a rabies diagnostic proficiency test that will be organized in 2023. Registration ends on January 6^th 2023 and is restricted to network members who received an invitation. The test will be performed on a unique panel to evaluate the rabies diagnosis conclusion on 10 samples using at least one of the following techniques: FAT (Fluorescent Antibody Test), RTCIT (Rabies Tissue Culture Infection Test), Conventional RT-PCR and Real-Time RT-PCR. The EURL Team would like to thank in advance all laboratories who will register to this proficiency test. 

As 2022 comes to an end, let the festivities begin ! 

The EURL team wishes you the best for the year to come :

A year full of health, joy and success, as well as cooperation and scientific discoveries !

See you in 2023 !

The EURL report of inter-laboratory comparison on tetracycline detection and age determination on red fox teeth has been sent to participants. Both TTC detection and age estimation have revealed comparable performance to the 2017 session. This demonstrate a constant satisfactory level of performance of EU rabies network in the related techniques. Those encouraging results demonstrate the laboratories capacity and the satisfactory results comparability for bait uptake estimations performed at EU level in the frame of oral vaccination campaigns. The inter-laboratory comparison was announced to NRLs by e-mail on September 02 2022.The panels departed from Nancy on October 04 2022. Reporting result deadline was established on October 31 2022.National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) from EU Member States and reference laboratories from bordering countries previously involved in ORV programs co-financed by the European Commission (EC) were invited to take part in this test. Sixteen laboratories wished to participate and returned their results (Table 1).Two laboratories expressed the wish to take part in the test but were not in measure to realise the testing during the timeframe of the study. Report is avalaible for download in the restricted area of the EURL website (Networks members only). Tetracycline is a group of broad-spectrum antibiotic commonly used as biomarker of oral rabies vaccines bait uptake. After its consumption, the molecules are indeed incorporated into bones and teeth and can be detected using epi-fluorescence microscopy that leads to their use as a bait uptake marker (Brochier, Kieny et al. 1991). Report is avalaible for download in the restricted area of the EURL website (Networks members only)

The EURL Team is pleased to announce the 14th session of Rabies Workshop.

 
Following the success of the previous session which took place both online and in real life, this session is planned to be organised in an hybrid fashion as well.

The 2023 meeting will held In Ljubljana , Slovenia on 21  and 22 June.

Presentations and discussions will be dedicated to the current situation of rabies control and surveillance in EU, as well as progress on laboratory techniques and feedback on previous ILT sessions. 

Following the successful 13^th edition of the Workshop for rabies in Warsaw, a satisfaction survey was sent to all attendees. The aim of this survey is to inquire about the level of satisfaction regarding the workshop, as well as other EURL activities. Preliminary results indicates a positive feedback of the National Reference Laboratories as ninety eight percent of their responses indicated “satisfactory“ and “quite satisfactory“ evaluations on the EURL activities. As we are always trying to improve our quality of service and because your opinion is important to us, do not hesitate to contact us for suggestions, ideas or comments about the EURL activities. To contact us, please write at rabies.eu-rl@anses.fr.

The full report is available for download in the restricted part of the website following this link : sitesv2.anses.fr/en/minisite/rabies/former-workshops-documents

A call for registration to the inter-laboratory test for tetracycline determination will be send in September 2022 to NRLs from European Union and bordering countries implicated in oral vaccination programmes. The Panel will have to be tested in October 2022. Tetracycline is widely used as biomarker for rabies vaccine bait uptake evaluation. After its consumption, the antibiotic is incorporated into bones and teeth in vaccinated fox population. The goal of the ILT is to evaluate the laboratories capacities to detect the tetracycline in red fox teeth’s as well as the age category of foxes. A report on this trial should be issued in the end of 2022

During two half days, the beautiful city of Warsaw welcomed the participants of the annual meeting organized by the EURL for rabies on 15 and 16 June 2022. This year’s edition was marked by the absolute pleasure of meeting back again and was home to very constructive exchanges on various rabies topics, as well as future collaborative works and exchanges. Additionally to the representative of the European Commission, Thierry Chalus, and representatives from  the World Organisation for Animal Health, (WOAH) (previously known as “OIE”) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the EURL team was pleased to welcome Laurent Dacheux from the Pasteur institute of Paris. Presentations showcased during the workshop can be found on the EURL website via this link (for network members only). On a final note, The EURL team would like to warmly thank all the participants as well as all the individuals who contributed in way or another to the organization of this wonderful moment.

See you next year for the 14^th edition of the workshop for rabies.