IZSVE

Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe)

Associated Member

The IZSVe is a public veterinary Institute that conducts surveillance, diagnostic and research activities in the areas of animal health and food safety with the aim to prevent and control the spread of animal pathogens, preserve animal welfare and contribute to public health. The IZSVe was founded in 1929 in Padua, and it is part of a national network that consists of nine other Italian public veterinary Institutes. The IZSVe provides scientific and technical support to the Ministry of Health and to the local governments of the Northeastern Italy: Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige. The IZSVe laboratories are specialized facilities performing analyses using technologically advanced methods and equipment. The IZSVe has 7 national Reference Centres and 8 national Reference Laboratories:

  1.  National Reference Centres for beekeeping, for avian influenza and Newcastle disease, for animal-assisted interventions, for scientific research on infectious diseases at the human/animal interface, for study and diagnosis of diseases of fish, molluscs and crustaceans, for rabies and for salmonellosis
  2. National Reference Laboratories for bee diseases, for avian influenza and Newcastle disease, for crustacean diseases, for diseases of bivalve molluscs, for fish diseases, for nanomaterials in food, for rabies, and for salmonellosis

In addition, some of the IZSVe’s laboratories are: 

  1. European Reference Laboratory (EURL) for avian influenza and Newcastle disease
  2. WOAH Reference Laboratory for viral encephalo-retinopathy of marine fish, for avian influenza and Newcastle disease, for rabies, for avian mycoplasmosis and for salmonellosis
  3. WOAH Collaborating Centre for scientific research on infectious diseases at the human/animal interface, for the epidemiology, training and control of emerging avian diseases
  4. FAO Reference Centre for zoonotic coronaviruses, for beekeeping, bee health and biosecurity, for animal influenza and Newcastle disease and for rabies

For the Veneto Region, the IZSVe has been designated as the Regional Centre for Apiculture (CRA), the Regional Centre for the Genetic Characterisation of Health Emergencies and the Regional Centre for the Surveillance of Food Toxic Agents. All the IZSVe Biobank samples are regularly tested for quality and purity. Storage and traceability play a vital role in the biobank with all samples identified by a dedicated software. Since 1999, the diagnosis of Avian Influenza (AI) outbreaks allowed the collection of valuable epizoological samples which are now available for the international scientific community. The collection is also expanding with some fish and mammalian viruses, also thanks to the participation of the IZSVe in international projects, such as H2020 – grant agreement n°871029-EVA-GLOBAL.

Key people:

  • Alda Natale
    DVM, PhD, MSc
    Director     of Struttura Territoriale Complessa SCT3
    Animal Health, Zoonoses and Infectious Diseases
  • Elisa Mazzotta
    DVM, PhD, MSc
    Veterinary Research Scientist
    Struttura Territoriale Complessa SCT3
    Laboratory of Diagnostic Virology