ECDC encourages adoption of EU and ISO quality standards for diagnostic and reference laboratory services by its partners in EU laboratory networks and in line with national arrangements and regulations.
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.
Emerging diseases and outbreak investigations, whole genome sequencing-based surveillance and public health risks related to animal and food imports to the EU/EEA were some of the topics under discussion during the Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses Network meeting.
On the third meeting of the Hepatitis B and C Network national focal points and experts discussed the enhanced surveillance programme for hepatitis B and C across Europe and explored ways of improving it.
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.