In 2007, the World Organisation for Animal Health(OIE) started a programme of international laboratorypartnerships, also known as ‘twinning’. Under thisprogramme, an established OIE Reference Laboratoryis associated with a candidate reference laboratory inorder to build capacity in the laboratory diagnosis ofspecific notifiable animal diseases. Avian influenza hasbeen a special focus of the twinning programme, due tothe emergence and (since 2005) accelerated spread ofhighly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV), ofsubtype H5N1, from Southeast Asia.
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