National Reference Centre / WOAH Reference Laboratory / FAO Reference Centre for Rabies
IZSVe has been active in rabies control since 1977, when a Europe-wide WHO Programme for Rabies Surveillance was established (http://www.who-rabies-bulletin.org/). The Centre gained extensive experience in the oral vaccination of foxes, which was carried out for the first time in Italy in 1984, alongside laboratory rabies diagnosis.
IZSVe was designated by the Italian Ministry of Health as the National Reference Centre for Rabies in May 2002 and appointed as an United Nations FAO Reference Centre for Rabies in December 2012. The Centre has been authorized by the WOAH/WHO (1995), DEFRA (UK) (1999) and, more recently, by the EU (decision 2001/296/EC) to test the effectiveness of rabies vaccination in domestic carnivores by in vitro antibody testing.
IZSVe is accredited according to 17025 ISO standards. All testing is performed according to international guidelines (WOAH, WHO). In addition, the following tests have been officially accredited by “Accredia”, the Italian National Accreditation Body:
- Fluorescent antibody test (FAT)
- Rapid tissue culture infection test (RTCIT)
- Fluorescent antibody virus neutralisation test (FAVN)
Activities and services
The institutional activities carried out by the National Reference Centre / WOAH Reference Laboratory / FAO Reference Centre for rabies are listed below:
- rabies diagnosis and surveillance in wild and domestic animals
- rabies antibody titration in animals and humans
- characterization of rabies isolates
- confirmatory diagnoses made by other laboratories
- assistance and information to the Ministry of Health regarding rabies control and prevention in animals and humans, as well as regulatory aspects
- data collection at the national level and for the WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe
- preparation of programmes of oral rabies vaccination of red foxes
- monitoring of oral rabies vaccination campaigns in the red fox population
- standardization of laboratory tests among the regional rabies laboratories and organization of national interlaboratory trials for rabies diagnosis
- participation in international interlaboratory trials for rabies diagnosis and antibody titration
- collaboration with other EU or international reference centres
- national and international training and education sessions dedicated to laboratory staff and veterinary practitioners
- collaboration with first aid units and infectious diseases departments for rabies diagnosis and epidemiological investigations related to human exposure and suspected cases
- research activity in the field of rabies epidemiology and control in wildlife, rabies virus characterization, rabies virus dynamics
- international collaboration in the framework of EU projects
News from the IZSVe on rabies
You can read all the news on this topics on this page of the News section of the website: News > News Topics > Rabies
Go to Rabies news »Latest news
Friday 28th February 2025, at 16 CET Professor Anton Vlaschenko will have a talk about outcomes of long-term urban bat monitoring in Ukrain, in the ...
Monday 11 November 2024, at 12 CET Professor Fiona Mathews will have a talk about bat movement in the first webinar organized under the framework ...
From 23 September to 4 October 2024 and thanks to the financial support of UN-FAO, the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe) hosted a two-week ...
World Rabies Day is held every year on September 28 to raise awareness and advocate for rabies elimination globally. It is an event designed to ...
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is organizing its first-ever Global Conference on Animal Health Innovation, Reference Centres and Vaccines from ...
Bats, members of the Chiroptera order, are pivotal to ecosystems but are associated with a plethora of viruses, some of which can be detrimental to ...
Contacts
Director
Paola De Benedictis
E-mail: pdebenedictis@izsvenezie.it
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Secretariat
Phone: +39 049 8084369-371
E-mail: dsbio.izsve@izsvenezie.it