Vom Journal of Veterinary Science Vol 8, 2011 59 VETERINARY DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORIES AND THEIR ROLE IN TRANSBOUNDARY ANIMAL DISEASE CONTROL *LAZARUS, D. D., WOMA, T. Y. and FASINA, F.O. Viral Research Division, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Plateau State Nigeria *Corresponding Author: Tel: +234 (0) 70 3617 6910, e-mail: lazdav2003@yahoo.co.uk SUMMARY Laboratory diagnosis is an important part of any surveillance or control programme. Most countries have a national laboratory which performs testing of Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) and provides support for national disease eradication and control programmes. State laboratories and Veterinary Teaching Hospitals provide testing for surveillance programme and export purposes, in addition to diagnosis of clinical cases. Many national and State laboratories are developing quality assurance programmes to assure the reliability of testing results. Veterinary services are reliant in the diagnostic expertise of the laboratory system to be able to respond to TAD introductions and to provide the surveillance programmes needed to detect the introduction of diseases and to certify freedom from disease. Key Words: Diagnostic, Control, Transboundary, Surveillance, Veterinary INTRODUCTION Many countries around the world have national veterinary services to address various needs of animal health protection and food safety. An integral part of this organization is the veterinary diagnostic laboratories. Surveillance and diagnosis of clinical cases of animal disease are necessary to determine the existence or introduction of a disease and laboratory testing is a crucial part of these surveillance programmes. Therefore, veterinary diagnostic laboratories are the backbone of disease control programmes administered by the veterinary services of a country [7]. Transboundary animal diseases are defined as those diseases that are of significant economic, trade and/or food security importance for a considerable number of countries; which can easily spread to other countries and reach epidemic proportions; and where control/management, including exclusion, requires cooperation between several countries. Of recent, there has been much concern globally on TADs, because of their implication on human health and national food security as some of them affect both human and animals, and these include Mad Cow Disease (BSE), Rift Valley fever (RVF), West Nile Virus (WNV) and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). They are highly contagious and feared diseases of livestock of economic importance that pose major constraint in international trade. Many developed countries are now free from these diseases and prevents introduction of the disease to their countries by banning imports from infected developing countries. Objectives of national veterinary diagnostic laboratories 1. To develop policies and strategies for the control and eventual eradication of transboundary animal diseases. 2. To develop and coordinate implementation of transboundary animal disease programmes. 3. In collaboration with other countries, to progressively control and eventually eradicate transboundary animal diseases which are devastating to livestock as well as human health. 4. To monitor, evaluate and devise the most cost effective methods of controlling the most important health