ECDC promotes the performance of external quality assessment (EQA) schemes, in which laboratories are sent simulated clinical specimens or bacterial isolates for testing by routine or reference laboratory methods. EQA schemes, or laboratory proficiency testing, provide information about the accuracy of different characterisation and typing methods as well as antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) and the sensitivity of the methods in place to detect a certain pathogen or novel resistance patterns.
2014, the topic of the conference was HIV and Viral Hepatitis: Challenges of Timely Testing and Care, and the main objectives were to provide the fields of HIV and viral hepatitis with the opportunity to learn from each other and to reflect on their experiences.
ECDC Director Marc Sprenger addressed MEPs of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety regarding the ongoing Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa.
An EQA scheme for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae has been available to laboratories participating in ECDC’s European Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) surveillance network since 2010. This EQA scheme has so far shown high levels of inter-laboratory comparability in the presence of differing methodologies.
This workshop on AMR in Salmonella and Campylobacter was arranged in cooperation with the FWD Network and the EU reference laboratory for antimicrobial resistance network.
An outbreak of S. Enteritidis phage type 8 is ongoing in the EU/EEA. Isolates are part of two distinct but related genetic clusters. ECDC and EFSA are liaising with relevant authorities to facilitate the coordination of investigation response measures.
European Union summary report based on data on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic and indicator bacteria in 2015, submitted by 28 EU Member States (MSs), jointly analysed by EFSA and ECDC.