Rabies: WOAH Reference Laboratory and WHO Collaborating Centre at the OAHL

The Ottawa Animal Health Laboratory (OAHL), located at the Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield) campus, was designated as a World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Reference Laboratory for rabies in 1991 and a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for the control and epidemiology of rabies in carnivores in 1992.

Mandate

To advance science and research on the diagnosis, surveillance and control of rabies and to provide scientific advice, assistance and technical training to WOAH and WHO member countries.

Latest updates

• The latest WOAH Annual Reports are available online (once on the page, scroll to "Rabies")
• Twinning is winning: collaborating for the global management of animal diseases [science.gc.ca]

Activities and services

• Diagnostic testing and confirmation for rabies
• Rabies surveillance
• Technical consultation
• Development of guidance documents and other forms of scientific expertise in relation to rabies diagnosis, control and epidemiology
• Support to build global laboratory capacity by providing reference material, method protocols, virus isolates and proficiency panels

Current research interests

• Validation and standardization of methodologies for rapid rabies diagnostic tests, including lateral flow assays

Twinning and capacity-building projects

• WOAH Twinning Project between the Centro de Diagnóstico de Sanidad Animal (UCDSA-SENASA), in Lima, Perú and the Ottawa Animal Health Laboratory on enhancing diagnostic capacity for rabies in South America, 2017 to 2020.

More information

• Rabies [woah.org]
  • Zero by 30: The Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 [woah.org]
• Rabies [who.int]
  • WHO Collaborating Centre for Control and Epidemiology of Rabies in Carnivores
• CFIA reference laboratories and collaborating centres
• Reference Laboratories [woah.org]
• Collaborating centres [who.int]

Selected publications

• Rabies in cats – an emerging public health issue
• Special issue "advances in rabies research"
• Raccoon rabies control and elimination in the northeastern USA and southern Québec, Canada
• Rabies in an imported dog, Ontario, Canada, 2022
• Assessing the extent and public health impact of bat predation by domestic animals using data from a rabies passive surveillance program