[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.

The EURL for Honeybee Health held its 8th. annual workshop on 02nd. October 2018. The main activities conducted by the EURL in 2018 were presented. The agenda focused on the transfer of multiresidue methods to the GC-MS/MS, the enhancement of diagnostic tools in parasitology, virology and bacteriology, the feedback on an interlaboratory proficiency test (ILPT) organised in 2017 on Nosema spores counting by microscopy and the ILPTs to come in 2019. Besides the presentation of the main actions and activities conducted by the EURL, participants had the pleasure to listen to presentations from various NRL representatives. In addition, Dr. Richard Thiéry was invited to present an overview and lessons learnt from the EU-funded project “SmartBees” about interactions between deformed wing virus, honeybees and V. destructor. Dr. Kalinka Gurgulova, head of the Bulgarian NRL, gave a talk on their activities and the honey bee health status in their country. Dr. Anna Granato, from the Italian NRL presented a state of play of the occurrence and surveillance of the small hive beetle in Southern Italy. The EURL presented the actions set up following the suspicion of introduction of the small hive beetle in France in April 2018 through queen imports from Argentina. Surveillance measures set up as well as and laboratory analyses conducted by the French NRL were presented. We thank all the speakers for their interesting presentations and to all contributors of this fruitful workshop. Presentations are available for members of the network on the website. Participants to the 8th. EURL annual workshop held at Anses Sophia Antipolis