title: OIEBTLABNET: the web-based network of the OIE Bluetongue Reference Laboratories.
abstract: Bluetongue (BT) is a mild to severe disease of domestic and wild ruminants caused by the Bluetongue virus (BTV) and generally transmitted by Culicoides biting midges. Its occurrence also determines a livestock trade ban in affected countries with severe economic consequences on national and international trade. For this reason, in May 2011, the OIE encouraged the OIE Reference Laboratories to establish and maintain a BT network to provide expertise and training to the OIE and OIE Member Countries for BT diagnosis, surveillance and control. The network is constantly sustained by world leading scientists in the field of virology, epidemiology, serology, entomology and vaccine development. The website, available at http://oiebtnet.izs.it/btlabnet/, hosts an Information System containing data on BTV outbreaks and strains and a WebGIS that distributes maps on BTV occurrence. In this paper we describe the applications and present the benefits derived from the use of the WebGIS in the context of BT international surveillance network.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise 'G. Caporale' in Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Daniels
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goffredo
authors.forename: Eileen Noel
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Ostlund
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Lorenzo
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Savini
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tora
authors.forename: Baratang Alison
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Lubisi
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calistri
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bruno
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Di Sabatino
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ippoliti
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Monaco
authors.forename: Peter P C
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Mertens
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lorusso
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capobianco
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ripani
authors.forename: Nigel James
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: MacLachlan
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001819:Bluetongue / Q000453:epidemiology; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D020407:Internet; D007753:Laboratories