Annual meetings
The activities of the EURL for ASF are to coordinate, in consultation with the Commission, the methods used in the Member States for diagnosing ASF, in particular by organising periodic interlaboratory comparative tests (ILCTs) of diagnostic procedures at Community level.
The main objective is to harmonise and optimise the serological and virological techniques for ASF used in the national reference laboratories (NRLs) in order to ensure that laboratory tests to detect the presence of ASF are carried out in each Member State in accordance with EC Directives and Regulations.
To this end, since 2003, an annual meeting of NRLs has been organised in collaboration with the EURL for classical swine fever, where ILCT results from EU Member States, associated countries and third countries are presented. In these meetings, DG SANTE, EC gives an overview of the current disease situation to the participants, as well as the EURL for ASF with the participation of several other NRLs each year, present an update on the current biological and molecular characteristics of circulating ASF viruses in Europe, the use of alternative validated samples, the validation of new tests/kits for reliable and confident diagnosis. Other presentations cover standard operating procedures, reference standards, laboratory contingency plans and preparedness, developments in diagnostic techniques, an update on progress in the field and other related issues.
