1. The Union shall grant the Netherlands financial assistance for their studies on Q fever, as summarised in the Annex. The present Decision constitutes a financing decision in the meaning of Article 75 of the Financial Regulation.
2. The following conditions must be fulfilled:
(a)
the outcomes of the studies must be made available to the Commission and all Member States and presented at the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health;
(b)
the Netherlands must forward a final technical and financial report to the Commission on 31 March 2012 at the latest, the financial report accompanied by supporting documents justifying evidence as to the costs incurred and the results attained.
1. The maximum contribution authorised by this Decision for the costs incurred for the work referred to in Article 1(1) is set at EUR 500 000 to be financed from the following Budgetary Line of the General Budget of the European Union for 2011:
—
Budgetary Line No 17 04 02 01: EUR 500 000.
2. The Union’s financial assistance shall be paid following presentation of the reports and supporting documents referred to Article 1(2)(b).
This Decision is addressed to the Netherlands.
ANNEXSupplementary provisions
ANNEX
Description of the technical and scientific studies on the epidemiology of Q fever and the effectiveness of possible control measures applicable to domestic ruminants, referred to in Article 1(1)
Project 1
:
‘Q fever in goats’ involves the cultivation of C. burnetii and the characterisation of C. burnetii of the different genotypes that exist in the Netherlands. It also involves the survival of C. burnetii in manure, the different infection routes, the development of immunity, the shedding of C. burnetii in pregnant and non-pregnant goats and general information on the pathogeneses of C. burnetii .
Project 2
:
‘Assessment of the virulence of C. burnetii strains in goats’ addresses the question if the current Dutch strain in goats is more virulent than other C. burnetii strains.
Project 3
:
‘Pathogeneses of Q fever’ studies the pathogenesis of C. burnetii infections in goats; the role of pregnancy in the pathogenesis of C. burnetii infections; the build up of cellular and humoral immunity; differences in virulence of C. burnetii strains in goats and the protective immunity of natural infection. With the knowledge of the pathogenesis and the within herd transmission, the results of diagnostic testing can better be understood.
Project 4
:
‘Inventory of Q fever strains in cattle, sheep, dogs and cats’ studies the relation between Q fever human patients and possible animal sources. The aim is to compare Q fever strains found in different animal species with the strains found in human patients. This is important to be able to exclude animals other than dairy goats as a source of human infections.
Project 5
:
‘Effectiveness of vaccination’ compares field studies previously carried out in particular in France with new field studies in the Netherlands to assess the effectiveness of vaccination of goats against Q fever.
Project 6
:
‘Search for suitable means of disinfection’ aims at identifying suitable products for disinfection and to assess whether materials like wood, straw, ground and manure can be effectively disinfected. The project includes: (i) the definition of criteria for disinfection products; (ii) the inactivation of C. burnetii and C. burnetii spores in clean fluids; (iii) the inactivation of C. burnetii and C. burnetii spores on complex materials and in manure; and (iv) the inactivation of C. burnetii and C. burnetii spores on complex surfaces.
