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Microbiology

Laboratory. © Istock

Microbiology laboratories provide a first line of defence against health threats from communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance. The ECDC provides scientific advice, capacity building activities and operational support to foster capable and responsive public health microbiology services for the European Union and beyond.

EU integrated surveillance of antimicrobial resistance

A cross-cutting EU integrated surveillance and epidemic intelligence of antimicrobial resistance in human and zoonotic pathogens is being developed by ECDC and members and coordination group of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (E

External quality assessments (EQA)

Laboratory capacity and capability

The primary goal of the EU laboratory Capability Monitoring System is to assess the capacity and capability of microbiology laboratories at national and EU level.

Molecular and genomic typing

Molecular typing of pathogens that cause infectious diseases complements the traditional epidemiological surveillance

Latest outputs

Publication

Fourth external quality assessment on antimicrobial susceptibility testing and detection of ESBL‐, acquired AmpC-, and carbapenemase‐production of Salmonella, 2018

External quality assessment -

Publication

Public health impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern: scoping review protocol

Technical report -

Publication

Considerations for the use of saliva as sample material for COVID-19 testing

Technical report -

News

Pioneering project describes molecular epidemiology of listeriosis in humans and Listeria monocytogenes in food

News story -

Publication

Methods for the detection and identification of SARS-CoV-2 variants

Technical report -

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Use of a whole genome sequencing-based approach for Mycobacterium tuberculosis surveillance in Europe in 2017-2019: an ECDC pilot study

Jan 2021

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Why we need more collaboration in Europe to enhance post-marketing surveillance of vaccines

Dec 2020

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Quantifying outcome misclassification in multi-database studies: The case study of pertussis in the ADVANCE project

Dec 2020

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis among migrants in Europe, 1995 to 2017

Dec 2020

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Variable sensitivity in molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 in European Expert Laboratories: External Quality Assessment, June - July 2020

Dec 2020

External links

CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention): Influenza

Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE)

Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD)

Epidemiological situation, laboratory capacity and preparedness for carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in Europe, 2019

European Biosafety Association (EBSA)

European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST)

European Federation of Parasitologists (EFP)

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

European Society for Clinical Virology (ESCV)

European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID)

European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID)

GISAID

Laboratory readiness and response for novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in expert laboratories in 30 EU/EEA countries, January 2020

Molecular and genomic typing for tuberculosis surveillance: a survey study in 26 European countries

OECD report: Health at a Glance Europe 2018 - Public health laboratory capacity to control infectious diseases threats

World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe)

Read more about collaboration with other organisations

Networks

National Microbiology Focal Points

Disease and laboratory networks