About the network

The Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratories Network is a network of OIE and FAO reference laboratories for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) that has been established under the secretariat of the OIE Reference Laboratory and FAO World Reference Laboratory for FMD, IAH-Pirbright, UK (WRLFMD).

The Network provides an awareness of the global FMD situation through its joint surveillance activities, it gathers and shares antigenic and genetic characteristics of FMD virus in current circulation, harmonizes laboratory procedures that provide such information and provides control options through laboratory based data on vaccine matching.

The annual meetings of the Network bring together WRLFMD; the FAO/OIE Regional Reference Laboratory for FMD, FGI-ARRIAH, Vladimir, Russia; OIE FMD Reference Laboratory for the Sub-Saharan continent, Gabarone, Botswana; the FAO/OIE Reference Laboratory for FMD, Centro Panamericano de Fiebre Aftosa OPS/OMS, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil; OIE Reference Laboratory for Foot and Mouth Disease, Laboratorio de Fiebre Aftosa de la Dirección de Laboratorios y Control Técnico, Argentina; FAO FMD Reference Centre, Exotic Animal Health, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, South Africa; FAO FMD Reference Laboratory, Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Greenport, USA; OIE FMD Reference Laboratory, Pakchong, Thailand; FAO Reference Centre for FMD, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Mukteswar, Nainital (Uttarakhand), India; OIE Collaborating Centre for Validation, Quality Assessment and Quality Control of Diagnostic Assays and Vaccine Testing for Vesicular Diseases in Europe, CODA-CERVA-VAR, Belgium; National FMD Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Laboratory, Gansu, China. Other FMD reference laboratories will be invited to join in the future.

Facilitation of the exchange of epidemiological data and informatics are through the provision of a web-based Reference Laboratories Information System (ReLaIS). ReLaIS provides public and private web-interfaces that contain up-to-date information on FMD. Network documents can be found in the Network Members area. Global surveillance information is visualised on a geographical interface and list (see FMD Database access). From here a cascade of laboratory information including virus isolation, serotyping, antigenic/vaccine matching and molecular phylogenies can be accessed for each sample. Tools on ReLaIS also enable registered users to input molecular sequences from their own laboratories (in a private secure area) and manipulate the data to create specific phylogenies.