Razi Institute Office of Scientific Relations and International Affairs with FAO co-organized an international webinar on the epidemic patterns of quality control assessment methods of FMD in Iran and the Middle East on Monday 2 October 2023 at 9:00 CEST. This event hosted many scientists and researchers from Iran and other countries of England, Italy, Georgia and UAE. 

An international webinar entitled “The Epidemic Patterns and Quality Control Assessment Methods of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Iran and the Middle East” has been organized by the Razi Institute's Scientific Relations and International Affairs office. The webinar took place on Monday, October 2, 2023 at 9:00 CEST. The event featured renowned scientists and researchers from the Razi Institute, the IVO (Iran Veterinary Organization) and some participants from Iran, England, Italy, Georgia and the United Arab Emirates.

It is worth noting that Dr. Rasool Zare, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic. Republic of Iran to FAO and the Rome and Dr. Bouda Vosough Ahmadi, Coordinator, Global Secretariat of the GF-TADs assisted Razi Institute in co-organization of this international webinar.

According to the Razi Institute Public Relations, Dr. Rainak Ghaderi, the Head of Scientific Relations and International Affairs, announced that this event was organized in coordination with specialists from the Razi Institute and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

In this webinar, Dr. Homayoun Mahravani presented a lecture on “ the relationship between the virus neutralization test and epitopes-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with the challenge test in evaluating the potency of the FMD vaccine”. Additionally, Dr. Mahmoud Azimi Dezfuli spoke about “reviewing the diversity of FMD vaccine types in Iran from 2010 to 2023”, and Mr. Reza Hassanzadeh from Iran's Veterinary Organization addressed “the capacity and capabilities of the National Reference Laboratory for Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Iran”.

Dr. Ghaderi noted that the webinar also featured prominent international professors such as Dr. Donald King who spoke on "A Regional Update on the Recent Outbreaks of FMD virus." Dr. Carsten Putzech, representing the European Federation for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD), and Dr. Tengiz Chaligawa from Georgia also contributed to the seminar, sharing their insights on the topic "How Sharing Information on the Risks of EuFMD in Eastern Europe Can Lead to Better Control of Livestock Disease."

The webinar also covered the need for Razi Institute's membership in the European FMD (EuFMD) meeting series. 
According to Dr. Ghaderi, the diversity of participants was impressive, with participants from Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Iraq, India, and other countries.