External quality assessment on crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever virus (cchfv)

In April and May 2022, two specific workshops targeted on the diagnosis of CCHFV were carried out for all the animal virology laboratories of the network. The aim of those workshops was to provide general information on this pathogen and to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge on laboratory diagnosis techniques for its detection.

A further step of this training curriculum is the organization of an external quality assessment (EQA) to evaluate the acquired capacities of each laboratory to detect CCHFV in animal samples, using molecular methods. Therefore, in the coming months,CISA-INIA will start the shipment of its CCHFV EQA to the involved laboratories. It will contain a blind panel of inactivated animal samples, CCHFV positive controls as well as all the needed reagents and kits for the performance of the CCHFV diagnosis.

The final objective of this activity is to assess the competences of the animal virology laboratories of the network and provide the necessary tools for carrying out the diagnosis of CCHFV with the aim of being prepared for a possible outbreak.