Meeting of the Regional Reference Laboratories (RRLs)
WHO
A meeting of the Regional Reference Laboratories (RRLs) from the European Region, which are members of the WHO Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN), was held in Chamonix, France in May 2012. Representatives from eight laboratories attended, in addition to WHO laboratory scientists responsible for coordinating the network's activities.
During the meeting, laboratory directors provided updates on their testing, research and training activities over the past year. The lab coordinator provided an overview of the performance by GPLN laboratories and activities in the Region. A total of 129 142 specimens from all surveillance activities were processed in the European Region during the period January – December 2011. Of those, 3 188 were faecal specimens from cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP). No wild-type polioviruses (WPVs) were detected during 2011 following the 2010 outbreak in Tajikistan. The coordinator noted that the network faces challenges to improve the timeliness of detection of WPVs and vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs), particularly in regards to the shipment of stool samples and poliovirus (PV) isolates to National Labs (NLs) or RRLs.
The overall performance of the Polio Laboratory Network in the European Region remained high in 2011. An update was given on the ITD rRT-PCR methods capacity in RRLs and on plans for the introduction of standardization and quality assurance procedures for sequencing methods. The use of the Laboratory Data Management System (LDMS) has been successfully implemented by the majority of labs following its introduction last year.
Recommendations were made to improve the quality assurance of enterovirus (EV) surveillance, the reporting of results from all types of surveillance activities, the links between RRLs and their associated NLs and the implementation of updated ITD rRT-PCR and sequencing methods.
