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Third training on honey bee diseases held on October 18 2017
On October 18th., the EU RL for Honeybee Health organised the third training on honeybee diseases. The training was dedicated to the PCR diagnosis methods (conventional and real-time) for detection, identification and/or quantification of honey bee pathogens. This training was intended for EU NRLs that have little or no experience in the diagnosis of bee diseases by PCR and wish to implement such methods.
The requirements and recommendations for implementation of PCR diagnosis described in the international standards (OIE and ISO 17025) were presented. Then, the implementation and the performance of PCR diagnosis methods as long as the interpretation of either qualitative or quantitative results were detailed.
Presentations are available for members of the network on the website.
Seventh EU RL annual workshop held on October 17 2017
The EU RL for Honeybee Health held its 7th. annual workshop on 17th. October 2017. The main activities conducted by the EU RL in 2017 were presented. The agenda focused on the enhancement of diagnostic tools in parasitology, virology and bacteriology, the production of reference materials and the organization of two interlaboratory proficiency tests (ILPTs) in 2017 – one on Nosema spores counting by microscopy and another on the determination of neonicotinoid residues in beebread.
Besides the presentation of the main actions and activities conducted by the EU RL, participants had the pleasure to listen to presentations from various NRL representatives. In addition, Dr. Panuwan Chantawannakul (Chiang Mai University, Thailand) was invited to present current knowledge on Tropilaelaps spp. mites.
Dr. Metka Pislak Ocepek, from the Slovenian NRL, gave a talk on their activities and the honey bee health status in their country. Hemma Köglberger, from the Austrian NRL presented a surveillance study set up during one year in Austria to collect data on colony losses. Dr. Franco Mutinelli presented a state of play of the occurrence and surveillance of the small hive beetle in Southern Italy and Kirsty Stainton from the British NRL showed the actions set up following the detection of Asian hornet specimens in United Kingdom in 2016.
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.
