WHO practical course on virological methods for influenza virus isolation and characterization for national influenza laboratory in Turkmenistan

12–30 September 2016, St Petersburg, Russian Federation

A three-week on-the-job training course will be held at the National Influenza Centre (NIC) in St Petersburg at the Research Institute of Influenza of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. It is part of an annual WHO programme on training of influenza virologists supported by the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework. The practical training course is organized as part of the ongoing collaboration with the NIC in St Petersburg.

Participants will be virologists from the national influenza laboratory in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

The main goal of the course is to strengthen virological surveillance of influenza by enhancing the capabilities of staff from the national influenza laboratory to perform influenza virus isolation in cell cultures, and to identify the haemagglutinin subtype of viral isolates by haemagglutination inhibition testing.