PHOTO CREDITS: Dr. Tomasz Podgorski
A 4-day intensive workshop has been organised in the framework of ASF-STOP COST Action CA15116 ‘Understanding and Combating African Swine Fever in Europe’. The workshop is aimed at specialists responsible for planning and conducting passive surveillance of ASF in wild boar populations.
1. Country reports from participants – what is going on?
2. Methods and field constraints for carcasses discovery and transportation
3. Sample collection methods for ASF diagnosis in field and lab (demonstrations, practical training, appealing lesions)
4. How to handle passive surveillance data for disease mapping (landscape effects, infected and monitoring areas, measure of surveillance effort)?
Roundtable discussions:
1. Caveats – what and why can go wrong?
2. Can we standardise passive surveillance data?
3. What possibility for increasing surveillance sensitivity and early warning?
Trainers:
DECORS Anouk (France)
Dr. Anouk Decors is a veterinarian and an epidemiologist at the French National Game & Wildlife Institute (ONCFS). She is the scientific responsible of the national network of epidemiological surveillance “SAGIR”. The main area of epidemiological surveillance she is working on is generalist incident-based surveillance. The network she is coordinating integrates different health issues (environmental, economic, health and social issues) in different field (microbiology, parasitology, ecotoxicology, etc.) and various species (birds and terrestrial mammals).
BUSAUSKAS Paulius (Lithuania)
Dr. Paulius BUSAUSKAS is a veterinarian working at the Emergency Response Department of State Food and Veterinary Service of Lithuania and has been responsible for planning and arrangement of ASF surveillance in wild boar in the country.
WOZNIAKOWSKI Grzegorz (Poland)
Dr. Grzegorz Wozniakovsky is a microbiologist holding a PhD and DSc in veterinary virology. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Swine Diseases at the National Vetrinary Institute in Pulawy – PIWet. His experience focuses on molecular epidemiology of poultry and swine viral diseases as well as on the development and implementation of rapid molecular biology techniques. Currently he manages the laboratory conducting diagnostics of ASF at PIWet. He has participated in a number of national and international projects focused on emerging infectious diseases.