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12th Annual Meeting EPIZONE 2018

We can look back on a very good 12th Annual Meeting EPIZONE in Vienna. About 320 delegates participated in the combined 12th Annual Meeting EPIZONE and 11th International ESVV Congress ESVV Congress in Vienna, 27-30 August 2018; EPIZONE and ESVV scientists, partners of industry and animal health policy makers. Venue was VetMedUni with very good facilities.

The 6 keynote presentations were very interesting, and evoked good discussions especially about the African swine fever emergence in Europe. We had a lot of abstract presentations and poster presentations and both were attended extremely well, even after the different evening social events! The reception in the Vienna Rathaus was beautiful and the ‘Heurigen abend’ in the Schreiberhaus restaurant was a joyful dinner with good wine and other drinks as well!  Plenty of interactions with scientists, both young and senior from all our partner institutes. So all very well, this is what we are working for with Epizone!

Young EPIZONE

About 25 young scientists took part in the Young EPIZONE meeting with the theme 'Project Planning’ on 28 August. See their programme here.

Five travel grants for the 12 th AM EPIZONE have been awarded to young scientists from the following institutes: IRTA-CreSa (Spain), Pokrov (Russia), IZS Venezie (Italy), National Health Institute Sciensano (Belgium) and NVRI (Poland).

Poster and oral prizes

Elisabet Lopez, IRTA was awarded with the EPIZONE poster prize ‘‘Pigs vaccinated with BA71ΔCD2 and surviving the homologous challenge with BA71, are capable to efficiently resist further challenge with Kenya06, while prime-boosting with BA71ΔCD2 do not’, and Jan Hendrik Forth, FLI was awarded with the Ingenasa poster prize ‘‘Target enrichment NGS approach for generation of ASFV full-genome sequences’.

Also ESVV poster prizes were awarded to: Ilaria BELFANTI (ITA): ‘Does Vaccination of Pregnant Cows Against Bovine Viral Diarrhea Viruses Confer Foetal Protection against Hobi-Like Pestivirus Infection?’ and Sarah GALLIEN (FRA): ‘Comparison of pathogenicity and intestinal immunity outcomes in pigs infected with French S-InDel or USS-non-InDel strains of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus’.
ESVV oral prizes were awarded to: Katrien POELART (BEL): ‘Equine herpesvirus 1 bridles T-lymphocytes to reach its target organs & Abortigenic but not neurotropic equine herpesvirus 1 modulates the interferon antiviral defense’ and Lorraine MCELHINNEY (GBR): ‘Outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in the United Kingdom’.

See for abstract book and programme here.