[Roles and functions of WHO Enterovirus Collaborating Center]

The Laboratory of Enteroviruses of the Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, is functioning as a WHO-designated Collaborating Center for Virus Reference and Research (Enterovirus) in virus isolation and identification, development, evaluation, and quality control of new laboratory diagnosis methods, training technical staffs and experts, preparing, maintaining and supplying of standard reagents and reference materials for the laboratory diagnosis of enterovirus infections including poliomyelitis. The infectious agents surveillance of polioviruses is one of the critical components for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and the laboratory diagnosis of non-polio enteroviruses is also important in current outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease, mainly due to enterovirus 71. Thus, human resources and consistent international cooperation among technical staffs, based on the global and regional polio laboratory networks, are playing critical roles also in the surveillance activities for non-polio enterovirus infections in the Western Pacific Region.