President of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut re-elected as member of the Scientific Commission of the World Organisation for Animal Health

Insel Riems, 29 May 2012. On May 25, 2012, at the occasion of its annual general session in Paris, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) elected the members of its Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases. Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Thomas C. Mettenleiter, President of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, was confirmed in his office as one of the six members of the Commission and will advise the OIE on questions of animal disease control and prevention for the next three years. “I am very pleased about my re-election and look forward to continuing to play a part in the work of this important board”, says Prof. Mettenleiter. He already was a member of the “Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases” (SCAD) in the 2009 to 2012 term of office.

The Commission provides input on recent scientific findings to the strategies and measures of the OIE which are applied worldwide. In addition, it assesses whether countries are free from certain animal diseases, which facilitates trade with animals and animal products.
The OIE was founded in 1924 and defines standards to maintain animal health at the global level. Currently, it has 178 member states. The OIE gathers data on the animal disease situation provided by its member states and informs of disease outbreaks worldwide to enable the adoption of preventive measures.

The OIE disposes of a network of 225 reference laboratories for 111 different animal diseases and of 40 “Collaborating Centres” worldwide, which act as competence centres in different fields of epidemiology, diagnostics and research and cooperate closely with the OIE. In mid-2006, the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut was designated as „Collaborating Centre for Zoonoses in Europe“, i.e. for diseases which can be transmitted from animals to humans. Furthermore, the institute houses seven OIE reference laboratories for notifiable animal diseases, among them rabies and avian influenza (“bird flu”).

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