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.
Kick-off meeting and large capacity building workshop of the ERLTB-Net. The meeting was a place for information exchange, networking, analysis of ERLN-TB achievements and planning of future initiatives.
Every other year EU/EEA representatives meet to discuss the specifics of surveillance in the EU/EEA. The aim is to discuss TB epidemiology and progress towards elimination in Europe.
The ERLTB-Net sub-network of reference laboratories from EU/EEA Member States supports harmonisation of methods and laboratory capacity for tuberculosis diagnosis, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and typing in the EU/EEA.
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.