Infokiri

Dear EVD-LabNet colleagues,

Please find below a news update concerning our network.

European Reference Laboratories (EURL) for Public Health.

As discussed before, EVD-LabNet activities are going to be transferred to two new EURLs for Public Health, i.e. the EURL for arboviruses and the EURL for emerging, rodent-borne and zoonotic viral pathogens. The aim is that EVD-LabNet activities will transition into the two EURL medio 2025. Regretfully EVD-LabNet will cease to exist after ~35 years in the course of 2025.

The EURL for emerging, rodent-borne and zoonotic viral pathogens will be coordinated by the public health institute in Sweden (folkhalsomyndigheten) with coordinator Klara Sonden, a well known member of EVD-LabNet. Other EURL partners are the EVD-LabNet members Institute Pasteur (France, Hervé Bourhy); INMI (Italy, Francesca Colavita) and the public health institute in Hungary (NNGYK, Zoltan Kis).

The EURL for arboviruses will be coordinated by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands (RIVM) with coordinator Chantal Reusken. Other EURL partners are the reference laboratories in France, Aix Marseille University (Remi Charrel); Greece, Aristotle university of Thessaloniki (Anna Papa); Italy, University of Padua (Luisa Barzon) and Slovenia, University of Ljubljana (Tatjana Avsic).

More information on the establishment of the EURLs and the laboratory network that they will serve will be shared once available.

EVD-LabNet annual meeting.

The final EVD-LabNet annual meeting will be held in Stockholm at the end of 2024. It will partially be a joined meeting with the annual EVD-epidemiology meeting. Please keep your agenda provisionally booked for the weeks of 11/11 and 8/12. As soon as we know the dates we will announce this. One representative per member institute will be paid for by ECDC as well as SAB members.

Virus culture course.

Last week the EVD-LabNet course on virus culture took place in Belgrade, Serbia. The course was hosted by the  Institute for viruses, vaccines and sera “Torlak”. 15 participants from 11 EU and 4 EU-enlargement countries participated in this course with trainers from Torlak, RIVM and the university of Padua. The course evaluation was very good and we hope to be able to repeat the course for trainees on the waiting list towards the end of 2024 depending on funding opportunities. A heartfelt thank you to Jelena and her team at Torlak for hosting the course and of course the trainers from Torlak, RIVM and University of Padua for course preparation, teaching.

Upcoming activities.

Currently we are negotiating the fourth specific contract with ECDC. Expected activities are webinars, annual meeting, fact sheet updates and hopefully another round of the virus culture course.

Best wishes Chantal

Chantal Reusken, Ph.D.

Principal expert Virology,

WHO Collaborating Centre for Laboratory Preparedness & Response for High Threat Pathogens and Biorisk

WHO COVID-19 reference laboratory

ECDC expert laboratory network for emerging viruses, EVD-LabNet (Emerging Viral Diseases-Expert Laboratory Network (EVD-LabNet) (europa.eu))

Netherlands Centre for Infectious Disease Control,

National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven

Contact:

P.O. Box 1

3720BA Bilthoven, the Netherlands

Tel: 00-31-2744414

e-mail: [email protected]