Istituto Zooprofilattico "Giuseppe Caporale"

The Istituto Giuseppe Caporale is a public health institute with administrative and managerial autonomy, which operates as a technical and scientific arm of the Italian State and the Abruzzo and Molise Regions, performing analytical work for the public veterinary services and providing the technical and scientific collaboration necessary to enable them to carry out their functions in the field of veterinary public health.

On the basis of the experience it has acquired, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) have assigned the Institute the role of Collaboration Centre and Reference Laboratory in specific spheres of activity:

• Collaborating Centre for Veterinary Training, Epidemiology,
  Food Safety and Animal Welfare
• Reference Laboratory for Brucellosis
• Reference Laboratory for Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia 
• Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue 
• Reference Laboratory for West Nile Disease

Since March 2007, the Institute manages the Secretariat of the network of OIE Reference Laboratories for Bluetongue, instituted upon recommendation of the World Organisation for Animal Health itself.