News
34th Workshop on Mycotoxins
May 14 to 16, 2012 at the Braunschweig civic centre
More than 200 German and international representatives from science, politics and economy will gather at the 34th Workshop on Mycotoxins to be held from May 14 to 16 at the Braunschweig civic centre. The agenda includes e.g. questions on the analytics and detection of mycotoxins and their occurrence in the food chain.
Mosquito atlas now online
Interested citizens can support research
Which mosquito species are present when and where in Germany? This is the question that interests scientists of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health (FLI), and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). From now on interested citizens may become active as “mosquito hunters” and send in biting midges that they have caught themselves.
Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut and University of Lubumbashi (Congo) sign cooperation agreement on research
Scientists from Africa visit Isle of Riems
Infectious diseases which can be transmitted from animals to humans (zoonoses), are in the focus of the joint research activities of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health (FLI) and the University of Lubumbashi (UNILU) in the Democratic Republic Congo. Yesterday, a cooperation agreement on research in this field was signed in the institute’s historic Loeffler-Haus.
Bluetongue Disease in Germany
March 2012: On 15 February 2012 Germany has been declared as free from Bluetongue disease. The FLI conducted a risk analysis for the re-occurrence of Bluetongue disease in Germany.
Atypical BSE detected in Switzerland in a cow from Germany
In the beginning of March, the Federal Veterinary Office (BVET) in Switzerland detected atypical BSE in a cow born in Germany. The animal of the species German Angus was born in Germany in 2005 and sold to Switzerland at the end of 2006.
First visualization of Schmallenberg virus
Scientists of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) on the Isle of Riems have first succeeded in visualizing the so-called „Schmallenberg virus“. The work group for electron microscopy led by Dr. Harald Granzow of the Institute of Infectology of the FLI on the Isle of Riems has visualized the pathogen by high-resolution electron microscopic analyses of infected cells.
2012 – another bank vole and hantavirus year?
Joint information of the JKI, RKI, FLI and National Consiliary Laboratory for Hantaviruses at the Charité on the respective homepages
Scientists and forestry agencies have registered signs of a possible increase in hantavirus infections in 2012. As a rule, this infectious disease which is mainly transmitted by bank voles has a mild course with flu-like symptoms; in isolated cases however severe courses of disease with kidney failure requiring dialysis may occur.
Early detection and prevention of pandemics – Project start for „ANTIGONE“
In the frame of a research network for rapid detection and improved control of infectious agents which have the potential to become a threat to human health the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health (FLI), Jena has started research on the intestinal bacterium EHEC O104:H4 which newly emerged last year, on the causative agent of Q fever Coxiella burnetii, and the causative agent of plague Yersinia pestis. These projects are part of the international research network „ANTIGONE“ (ANTIcipating the Global Onset of Novel Epidemics) supported by the EU with 12 million Euros from the EU research framework programme.