WOAH Standard Operating Procedure for determining whether a disease should be considered as emerging

The aim of this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is to facilitate the notification to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) of emerging diseases of terrestrial animals. It describes the procedure followed upon receipt of a request by a Delegate to determine whether a disease meets the Terrestrial Code definition for an emerging disease (see below) and the subsequent actions until the scientific information available is sufficient to support a fully informed assessment against the listing criteria as described in Chapter 1.2. of the Terrestrial Code.

This SOP was developed to document the assessment process and subsequent actions. It refines and streamlines the existing WOAH process for managing emerging disease notifications according to mandated roles and responsibilities

Emerging disease means a new occurrence in an animal of a disease, infection or infestation, causing a significant impact on animal or public health resulting from: a change of a known pathogenic agent or its spread to a new geographical area or species; or a previously unrecognised pathogenic agent or disease diagnosed for the first time.