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The Livestock Revolution, Sustainable Development, Zoonotic Disease
Conference Audio and Video - Ilaria Capua
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Ilaria Capua, DVM Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Italy FAO and OIE
Audio of Dr. Capua's lecture (MP3 format; 23 minutes) Video of Dr. Capua's lecture (RealVideo format; 23 minutes) |
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Biography Ilaria Capua graduated with a degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Perugia in 1989. She obtained postgraduate qualifications as a specialist in animal health and hygiene from Pisa University in 1991. Dr. Capua currently heads the Virology Department at Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie in Italy, and heads the FAO and OIE Reference Laboratories for avian influenza and Newcastle disease. Her 50-member team consists of a unit that carries out diagnostic activity, one that produces diagnostic reagents and evaluates vaccines and one that performs research at an international level. Between 1999 and 2006, Dr. Capua has been involved in managing several avian influenza (AI) and Newcastle disease (ND) epidemics and in 2000 developed the "DIVA" (Differentiating Vaccinated from Infected Animals) strategy, based on heterologous vaccination, to combat AI. This strategy, the first developed to combat AI by vaccination that still enables trade, resulted in eradication of AI at that time in Italy and was approved by the EC and OIE. Since 1995 Dr. Capua has been involved with the EU Commission, participating in meetings and working groups on viral diseases of poultry and mammals, including AI, ND, FMD, CSF and Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever. As a member of working groups of the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare of the EU, she has participated in preparing scientific reports published by the EU Commission on these diseases. She also participates in Global Influenza Pandemic Prepareness meetings and programs at the WHO, FAO and EU Commission. In 2005 she was nominated for chair of the OFFLU, the newly established OIE/FAO network on AI that supports developing countries in managing the AI crisis and offers veterinary expertise to complement international efforts of the medical community in managing the pandemic threat posed by AI. She is currently a member of the Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare of the European Food Safety Authority, and chair of the working group on AI. Dr. Capua also has participated in several OIE working groups to rewrite chapters of the OIE Manual and Code on Avian Influenza and in working groups of the EU Commission for the new AI directive. |
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Abstract Avian Influenza: the Moving Target Avian Influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype have become endemic in the poultry population of vast areas of the world in three continents. This opportunity given to the virus has greatly increased its potentials, affecting the health of wild and domestic animals and of humans. Currently, human health is affected both in terms of the reduction of food security and of the infection of humans as a prelude to the emergence of a new pandemic virus. An extraordinary effort to control this panzootic is necessary - in which the veterinary community plays a crucial role. |
