User:Mia2023/Istituto zooprofilattico sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise

The Istituto zooprofilattico sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "Giuseppe Caporale" (IZSAM), headquartered in Teramo, is one of Italy's 10 experimental zooprophylactic institutes.

IZSAM is a public law health agency that contributes to human physical, mental and social well-being through the application of veterinary sciences. The One Health approach translates into relentless research and experimentation aimed at the integrated system of "animal health and welfare - food safety - human health - environmental protection" to ensure adequate responses to public health needs for citizens. The IZSAM is a technical-scientific instrument of the Abruzzo and Molise Regions and, above all, of the Ministry of Health, which performs the supervisory role with respect to all Italian Experimental Zooprophylactic Institutes.

Story
The Institute was founded in 1941 under the name "Istituto Zooprofilattico Interprovinciale di Teramo ed Ascoli Piceno." It was established, in fact, as an interprovincial consortium between the administrations of the two provinces, the municipalities included within the two provinces and the Teramo Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture, to provide technical assistance and laboratory diagnostic support to veterinarians and livestock farmers in the area. In 1946 Giuseppe Caporale was called to direct the Institute, and with his experience and very clear ideas, he gave a great impetus to the growth of the Institution: for example, he managed to have a new, imposing and functional headquarters built as early as 1949. Hard daily work and the new socio-political conditions of the country, which was recovering after the war, soon led the Teramo Institute to become an authoritative point of reference in the field of Italian veterinary medicine. In 1974 the Institute extended its jurisdiction to Molise, but lost the province of Ascoli Piceno, thus assuming the name it still retains today as Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise. In 1978 the Institute was named after Giuseppe Caporale, the real architect of its development, who passed away suddenly on April 11, 1976.

Functions
The IZS of Abruzzo and Molise offers services with a high content of knowledge and innovation in the fields of animal health, veterinary public health and environmental protection, to safeguard animal and human health. Research and experimentation are the basis of the daily work of the Institute, which mainly carries out activities related to animal health, food safety, epidemiology, risk analysis, animal welfare, international cooperation, training, and the design, implementation and management of animal registry databases.

The Institute's main activities include: diagnosis and surveillance of veterinary diseases; production of diagnostic, therapeutic, and prophylactic kits for animal diseases (including those transmissible to humans, zoonoses); microbiological, chemical, and radiometric investigations of foodstuffs; epidemiological surveillance of the health status of animal populations, hygiene of livestock production, and products of animal origin; advice and assistance to livestock farmers for the improvement of livestock production; study of the genomics of microorganisms by means of Next Generation Sequencing (Next Generation Sequencing) of DNA; safeguard of animal welfare; protection of the biodiversity of wildlife; monitoring of water quality with marine biology surveys; detection of the presence of radioactivity on food and constant monitoring of the level of environmental contaminants.

Centers of Excellence
Several centers of excellence at regional, national and international levels are based at the Institute.

In its regions of responsibility, the IZSAM is the Abruzzo Region Veterinary Epidemiological Observatory-OEVRA, Regional Enterobacterial Pathogens Laboratory and Environmental Education Center (Abruzzo); Research Center for Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries (Molise).

In Italy, IZSAM holds the role of National Reference Center (CRN) for the study and detection of exotic animal diseases since 1991; CRN for veterinary epidemiology, planning, information and risk analysis since 1991; CRN for Brucellosis since 1999; National Service Center and National Livestock Registry database since 2002; National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for Brucellosis, NRL for Bluetongue and NRL for African horse sickness since 2006; NRL for Listeria monocytogenes, NRL for Campylobacter, and NRL for dioxins and PCBs in feed and food for human consumption since 2007 (now called NRL for halogenated persistent organic pollutants in feed and food); CRN for veterinary urban hygiene and non-epidemic emergencies since 2013; CRN for genomic sequences of pathogenic microorganisms: Bioinformatics database and analysis since 2017.

Internationally, IZSAM has served as a World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH, formerly OIE) Reference Laboratory (LdR) for brucellosis and WOAH LdR for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia since 1993; WOAH Collaborating Center (CC) for Epidemiology and Organization of Heterinary Services in Developing Countries since 1997 (in 2020, this CC was replaced with the creation of 4 different Centers: CC WOAH for Food Safety for Animal Production; CC WOAH for Animal Welfare; CC WOAH the Epidemiology, Modeling and Surveillance; CC WOAH for Veterinary Training and Capacity Building); LdR WOAH for Bluetongue since 2005; LdR WOAH for West Nile Fever since 2010. The Institute also serves as FAO Reference Center for Veterinary Epidemiology since 2012; European Union Reference Center for Ruminant and Equine Welfare since 2021; FAO Reference Center for Animal Health and Food Safety since 2022; FAO Reference Center for Zoonotic Coronaviruses (together with IZS delle Venezie) since 2022; European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Rift Valley Fever since 2022.

Cultural activities in the area

 * IZSAM "G. Caporale" Special Award: since 2010, the Institute has been promoting the Special Award for a film on the human-animal relationship, aimed at spreading sensitivity and knowledge towards animals through the communicative medium of cinema, as part of the Teramo "Gianni di Venanzo" International Film Photography Award.
 * One Health Award: the Institute promoted and organized the first edition of OHA, which was held in Teramo from October 14 to 16, 2022.

Directors

 * Raffaello Zeetti (Director): 1941 - December 1946
 * Giuseppe Caporale (Director): December 1946 - April 11, 1976
 * Francesco Gramenzi (Director): April 12, 1976 - July 31, 1990
 * Vincenzo Caporale (Director): August 1, 1990 - October 31, 2011
 * Rossella Lelli (F.F. Director): November 1, 2011 - July 6, 2012
 * Giacomo Migliorati (F.F. Director): July 7, 2012 - August 2, 2012
 * Fernando Arnolfo (Director General F.F.): August 3, 2012 - December 15, 2015
 * Giovanni Savini (General Manager F.F.): December 16, 2015 - January 11, 2016
 * Mauro Mattioli (Director General): January 12, 2016 - January 13, 2019
 * Nicola D'Alterio (General Manager F.F.) January 14, 2019 - February 5, 2020
 * Nicola D'Alterio (General Manager) February 6, 2020 - in office