Regional European Training Course on “The Early and Rapid Molecular Diagnosis of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza” held in Vladimir, Russian Federation, from 15 – 26 September 2008
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 re-emerged in 2003 in Asia and from there spread rapidly to Europe and Africa. The H5N1 avian influenza subtype holds a potential human pandemic risk since; it is a highly infectious and dynamically evolving disease that spreads rapidly and widely across countries and continents due to the migration routes of carrier avian species, especially water and predator birds; it is zoonotic in nature causing a high rate of mortality in both birds and humans (from the reported 385 human cases, 245 resulted in fatalities, i.e. a mortality rate of about 65%); it threatens national, regional and international trade on poultry and poultry products as a consequence of quarantine regulations; it threatens food security and the livelihood of many millions of poor farmers; the control of it is beyond the scope and resources of a single country or region.
The IAEA, and FAO through its EMPRES programme, have assisted Members States by providing information (laboratory infrastructure, equipment, reagent and consumable needs), diagnostic laboratory guidelines, standard operating procedures for diagnostic tests and training on the use of vaccines and appropriate diagnostic tests. The technical based intervention by the IAEA has prepared Member States to react to disease events in a timely manner. This action has however, to be followed-up and indeed expanded. To control transboundary infectious diseases effectively (case in point avian influenza) the early, rapid, sensitive and specific detection of a harmful introduction is critical as this impacts on the speed of implementation of control measures such as movement and trade restrictions, the possible implementation of a ring vaccination programme and quarantine/stamping-out/culling strategies in infected areas.
Unfortunately, inadequate capacity in many countries is the principal limiting factor for implementing an effective control or even eradicating policy and therefore the building up (or the enhancement of an existing capability) is critical and calls for a consolidation of international effort. To this effect, the IAEA and FAO through the Joint FAO/IAEA Division and EMPRES Programme, organized the first interregional training course on the “Rapid Diagnosis of Avian Influenza” at the OIE Collaborating Centre for the application of Molecular Techniques and ELISA in the diagnosis of Animal Diseases at Agency’s Seibersdorf laboratories from 20 Nov to 1 Dec, 2006. This was followed by the African Regional training course on “Molecular Techniques for the Diagnosis of Highly Avian Influenza” in Cairo, Egypt, 26 August to 6 September 2007 and the Australasia Regional training course on “Early and rapid diagnosis of avian influenza” in Geelong, Australia, 10 to 21 November 2007. It is hoped that this European Regional training course in the Russian Federation, will be followed by a follow-up European Regional training course (March 2009, Bulgaria) and a Latin America Regional training course (October 2009, Colombia).