Identification of Aethina tumida, the Small Hive Beetle, by morphological examination and PCR Aims: To evaluate the conformity of the results obtained by the European Union (EU) National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) for the identification of Aethina tumida by morphological examination and PCR. Requirements for participation: NRLs from EU Member States and NRLs from third countries (depending on the feasibility). Inter-laboratory comparative test (ILCT) methods: Morphological examination only. Or morphological examination and PCR. Matrix: Entomological specimens stored at room temperature in ethanol 70%. Provisional Agenda: Registration: February 2020 ILCT period: April 2020   Note: Proficiency tests organised by the EURL are mainly intended for the NRLs and the Official Laboratories of the EU. If other laboratories are interested in participating, please contact the EURL (eurl.bee@anses.fr) for more information.    Another ILPT will be organised on virology later at the end of the year

[relayed from EFSA & ECDC]  In 2018, 358 confirmed brucellosis cases in humans were reported in the EU. The EU notification rate was 0.08 cases per 100,000 population, which was the lowest notification rate reported since the beginning of the EU‐level surveillance. Compared with 2017, the total number of Brucella‐positive or ‐infected cattle herds, sheep flocks and goat herds in the not officially free regions further decreased by 13% and by 12%, respectively. During recent years, the proportion of brucellosis‐positive cattle herds, sheep flocks and goat herds in not officially free regions in Italy and Portugal decreased. In Spain and Croatia, eradication of brucellosis in cattle, sheep and goats is within reach with almost no positive herds reported for these last years. Brucellosis in cattle and in sheep and goats is still endemic in southern regions in Italy with the highest prevalence in Sicily and in Greece and Portugal. Greece reported the highest notification rate of confirmed cases in humans, 10 times higher than the EU average, while at the same time reporting an enzootic situation in animals: 1% infected cattle herds and 3% infected sheep and goats herds on the Greek islands whereas from Continental Greece data were lacking. Brucellosis is still an animal health problem with public health relevance in southern Europe/in countries that are not officially free of brucellosis.

NEW DATE: 26 - 27 October 2020 ASFILAB will arrange an international symposium in Paris on Chemical and Microbiological Food Analyses  namely :  “ Analytical Measurements in the Society “ For more details at :  http://www.aoaceurope.com/  

[relayed from Animals, 9(11), 922]  Even if it is an important achievement from a biodiversity conservation perspective, the documented increase in abundance of the four native European wild Caprinae (Rupicapra rupicapra, R. pyrenaica, Capra ibex, C. pyrenaica) can also be a matter of concern, since tighter and more frequent contact with sympatric livestock implies a greater risk of transmission of emerging and re-emerging pathogens.   This article reviews the main transmissible diseases that, in a European scenario, are of greater significance from a conservation perspective. Epidemics causing major demographic downturns in wild Caprinae populations during recent decades were often triggered by pathogens transmitted at the livestock/wildlife interface

From the 12th to th 14th of November, the EURL Brucellosis team went to the National Veterinary Laboratory in Malta to provide a practical training session. This lab is nominated NRL for Brucellosis for Malta and is ISO 17025 accredited. The NRL aims to include the main serological methods for Brucellosis diagnosis in their accreditation scope by the end of 2019.   Acacia Ferreira Vicente (Project manager- EURL Brucellosis team) and Maëline Ribeiro (Lab analyst- EURL Brucellosis team) presented diffèrent aspects of Quality Management applied to serological methods for brucellosis diagnosis. We would like to congratulate Susan Chircop (Head of Malta's Brucellosis team) and the team for their effort and dedication in all the work.

The International Brucellosis Society organized its annual 2-day conference  in Chicago on November 2 and 3, 2019, bringing together 120 participants from 27 countries and including 18 students. In total, the conference counted 33 oral communications and 21 posters. The European and French teams were well represented with 12 oral presentations and 2 posters. The program scanned the different aspects of the research, including cellular interactions between Brucella and host cells (with a guest lecture by Suzana Salcedo, CNRS UMR 5086, University of Lyon), experimental results on new vaccine approaches and several communications related to particular human cases and Brucella excretion in milk and cheese.   Seven European countries contributed actively to the conference programme : ANSES (EURL for Brucellosis, France), APHA (UK), BfR (Germany), CITA (Spain), CNRS (France), INSERM (France), ISZAM (Italy) and NARILIS (Belgium). The EURL team presented 2 oral communications and 1 poster, by Guillaume Girault, Claire Ponsart and Luca Freddi respectively. Noteworthy was an oral presentation on the STAR-IDAZ project, with Brucellosis as a priority topics. More information will be given in our next newsletter.   Next conference will be organised by ISZAM in Italy, 2020, September 29th to October, 2nd. A great opportunity for EU teams to meet and present their research and results, save the date!

The next Open Session of the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease will be a special Edition conducted in virtual format in December 2020. Register your interest now to keep in touch and propose your abstracts for pre-recorded presentations or e-posters.    

Less than one year to the 4th International TEAM (Tephritidae workers of Europe, Africa and Middle East) meeting, to be held from 4th to 8th October 2020, in La Grande-Motte, France. Four years after the last meeting in Stellenbosch (South Africa, 2016), this TEAM symposium renews the strong bonds between Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with the aims of bringing together academia, researchers, extension and industry specialists, who will present their latest scientific results and deliberate on a number of pertinent issues on fruit fly biology, ecology and control.  There's no need to stress the importance of fruit flies for the fruit production economy and the high risk associated to the potential introduction and establishment of those pests in Europe. Fruit flies from tropical countries are frequently intercepted by National Plant Health Service during the phyto-sanitary control at EU points of entry for goods. For example, Bactrocera dorsalis (the oriental fruit fly) was detected for the first time in 2018 in Campania, Southern Italy, during an official survey. For the first time, Drosophila suzukii will be included in this meeting. This invasive pest can be considered as a fruit fly in its own right, with many similarities to Tephritidae due to its difficult management.   More information about program, registration and organization can be found on the official 4th TEAM meeting webpage.   

On 11th October 2019, the European Commission has published the list of regulated quarantine pests which are considered top priorities for EU Member States due to the economic, environmental and social impact on EU’s territory. The list is based on the impact assessments carried out by EFSA and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) on a number of pests identified by the Commission. Some of the criteria considered are the impact on crop yields, the damage to trade and the cost of control measures, as well as social consequences and environmental impact. For each of the listed pests, EU Member States will be required to carry out annual surveys, draw up and keep up to date a contingency plan, perform simulation exercises, launch information campaigns to the public and action plans for the eradication of these pests, when already present on their territory. In this contest, the diagnostic competence of the National Reference Laboratories network is of paramount importance. It is significant to point out that 16 out of the 20 priority pests are insects! Among them, we find species that have already been reported in some Member States, such as the longhorned beetles Anoplophora glabripennis, A. chinensis and Aromia bungii, the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis and the japanese beetle Popillia japonica, but also Agrilus planipennis, Spodoptera frugiperda and Bactrocera zonata, that are still outside Europe's borders. All the cited pests are already present in the working plan of the EURL and the Proficiency Tests on Spodoptera frugiperda (for which registrations are open) are an example of the support that the EURL aims to provide to National Reference Laboratories.     Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1702  

The EURL for Bee Health held its 9th. annual workshop on 16th. October 2019 at ANSES Sophia Antipolis. This year the EURL presented the feedback on the three interlaboratory proficiency tests (ILPT) organised in 2018-2019, on the small hive beetle (SHB), Paenibacillus larvae and Tropilaelaps as well as the ILPTs scheduled in 2020. Since the last annual workshop, methods were also developed and/or validated for the quantification of pesticides multiresidues in nectar, for the identification of SHB eggs, for the determination of diagnosis thresholds of viral diseases and for the identification of bacteria causing foulbroods. The analysis of the adoption process of the method for the quantification of six viruses was also described and the results of the enquiry on queen cages importation were shown. In addition, the EURL presented a guidance document for the management of the infestation by SHB in the soil. This document was produced by a working group including the EURL and four European NRLs and released on the EURL website network in April 2019. The participants had also the pleasure to listen to presentations from four NRL representatives. Dr. Ivana Tlak Gajger, head of the Croatian NRL and Dr. Sirpa Heinikainen, representative of the Finnish NRL, gave a talk on their activities and the honey bee health status in their respective countries. Dr. Oureilidis Konstantinos, representative of the Greek NRL, presented the programme of surveillance for the infestation by SHB set up in Greece. Finally, Dr. Franco Mutinelli, Head of the Italian NRL, presented a state of play of the occurrence and surveillance of SHB in Southern Italy. We thank all the speakers for their interesting presentations and all the contributors for the fruitful discussions. Documents of this workshop are available here for the NRL network.