- Specialised diagnostic activity with different diagnostic methods (see below)
- Diagnostic approach in the case of outbreaks and definition of control procedures and guidelines for the eradication of the diseases in infected farms
- Legislative support for the Ministry of Health and Veterinary Regional Officers
- Capability of experimental trials (i.e., assessing vaccine potency and efficacy) in BL3 confinement animal facilities. In the laboratories and animal facilities of IZSLER, those rules and provisions given in the chapter 1.1.4. “Biosafety and biosecurity: Standard for managing biological risk in the veterinary laboratory and animal facilities (version adopted in May 2015)“ of the “WOAH Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals” are applied.
IZSLER uses a Management Quality Control System for its services, aimed at giving reliable analytical results, which are based on the international UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025 for accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories.
The adoption of such standards guarantees the technical competence and the impartiality of the laboratory in performing the analyses. This, indeed, becomes an element for the reciprocal recognition of the validity of the results at international level.
Today, IZSLER is enrolled on the register of the Accredia (the national organisation recognised for the accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories) as n. 0148 and includes 17 locations and more than 1600 accredited methods. The list of accredited methods can be found here.
Most of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease and European Brown hare Syndrome’s serological and virologic diagnosis methods have been developed “in-house” and then standardised and listed among accredited methods (Table 1).
Table 1: List of methods used to diagnose lagoviruses
| Name of the method | Scope | IZSLER Code | Method type |
| RHD/EBHS ELISA sandwich | Virological diagnosis of pathogenic lagoviruses (RHDV, RHDVa, RHDV2 and EBHSV) | MP 05/028 | Accredited – WOAH Manual for Terrestrial Animals 2021 cap 3.7.2 par B.1.1. |
| RHD ELISA sandwich | Virological diagnosis of RHD | MP 05/027
MP 05/027A |
Accredited – WOAH Manual for Terrestrial Animals 2021 cap 3.7.2 par B.1.1. |
| RHDV RT-PCR | MP 09/089 | Internal | |
| RHDV2 RT-PCR | MP 09/369 | Accredited – WOAH Manual for Terrestrial Animals 2021 cap 3.7.2 par B.1.1. | |
| RHD Western blot | NK 2032 | Internal | |
| Haemoagglutination test | NK 2444 | Internal | |
| EBHS ELISA sandwich | Virological diagnosis of EBHS | MP 05/039 | Accredited – WOAH Manual for Terrestrial Animals 2021 cap 3.7.2 par B.1.1. |
| EBHS PCR | MP 09/097 | Internal | |
| EBHS Western blot | NK 2087 | Internal | |
| Immuno-histochemical methods on thin section | Virological diagnosis of RHD/EBHS | MP 07/003 | Internal |
| Drop method – Negative staining Electron Microscopy | Diagnosis of viral agents | MP 05/002 | Internal |
| Ultracentrifugation method – Negative staining Electron Microscopy – | MP 05/003 | Internal | |
| Immune-electron-microscopy (IEM) Negative staining Electron Microscopy – | Diagnosis and typing of viral agents | MP 05/023 | Internal |
| Total antibodies – MAbs2 based competitive RHDV ELISA (kit IZS-BS) | Antibodies anti-RHDV | MP 04/087
MP 04/087A |
Accredited – WOAH Manual for Terrestrial Animals 2021 cap 3.7.2 par B.1.1. |
| Total antibodies – MAbs1 based competitive RHDV2 ELISA (kit IZS-BS) | Antibodies anti-RHDV2 | MP 04/158 | Internal |
| Total antibodies – Mabs1 based competitive EBHS ELISA (kit IZS-BS) | Antibodies anti-EBHSV | MP 04/093 | Internal |
| IgA isotype – RHD ELISA | RHDV/RHDV2 IgA Antibodies | MP 04/134
MP 04/134A |
Accredited – WOAH Manual for Terrestrial Animals 2021 cap 3.7.2 par B.1.1. |
| IgG isotype – RHD ELISA | RHDV/RHDV2 IgG Antibodies | ||
| IgM isotype – RHD ELISA | RHDV/RHDV2 IgM Antibodies |
1 Specific anti-RHDV, anti RHDV2 and anti-EBHSV MAbs were produced and characterised before their use in competitive ELISA.