Johannes Charlier1, Smaragda Sotiraki2, Laura Rinaldi3, Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna4, Edwin Claerebout5, Dave Bartley6, Eric R. Morgan7, Hervé Hoste8, María Martínez-Valladares9, Martin Kašný10, Hannah Rose Vineer11*
1 Kreavet, Hendrik Mertensstraat 17, 9150 Kruibeke, Belgium
2 Veterinary Research Institute, HAO-DEMETER, Thermi 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece
3 University of Naples Federico II, Unit of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, CREMOPAR, Via Delpino, 1, 80137 Napoli, Italy
4 Institute for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13, 14163, Berlin, Germany
5 Laboratory for Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
6 Moredun Research Institute, Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik, Edinburgh EH26 0PZ, UK
7 Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast, Biological Sciences, 19 Chlorine Gardens, BT9 5DL, UK
8 Université de Toulouse, UMR 1225 IHAP INRAE/ENVT, 23 Chemin des Capelles, ToulouseF-31076, France
9 Instituto de Ganaderia de Montana, CSIC Universidad de León, 24346 Grulleros, León, Spain
10 Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic
11 Department of Infection Biology and Microbiomes, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Neston, Cheshire, CH64 7TE, UK
*Corresponding author: hannah.vineer@liverpool.ac.uk
COST Action COMBAR (Combatting Anthelmintic Resistance in Ruminants; www.combar-ca.eu) has grown over the years to a network of over 200 scientists from Europe and beyond, who have been working collaboratively to develop significant advances in sustainable helminth control in ruminants. With them, we are proud to extend an invitation to veterinarians, and those aligned with the veterinary and ruminant industry, to join us in an open meeting on the 9-10th December. Register for free at www.combar4r.com before the 3rd of December.
After three successful scientific meetings in Warsaw, León and Ghent, where over 150 specialists from across the world came together to discuss their work and innovations for sustainable helminth control in ruminants, this year the COMBAR meeting will be held online. Although we are forced by the circumstances to hold the meeting online only, this offers opportunities for reaching out to members and stakeholders who would otherwise not be able to attend.
As COMBAR has is over half way, it is time to see where we stand and start defining evidence-based recommendations. Kicking-off the process towards constructing recommendations for research, policy and control, seminars and discussion panels will focus on: (1) anthelmintic resistance diagnosis, (2) socio-economics and (3) sustainable helminth control. Each theme will have a separate online session, and will be introduced by a high level keynote presentation as well as a number of short presentations from our researchers. The discussion panels will involve a mix of researchers and stakeholders, including farmers and veterinarians, and the audience will be able to submit questions and participate via polling software. In this way, we hope to start collectively translating the pooled knowledge and new research findings into workable recommendations.
Looking forward to your participation.
