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.
The ninth Healthcare Infection Society (HIS) International Conference was a three-day conference focussing on infection prevention and control, organised by the HIS in collaboration with the French Society of Hospital Hygiene (SF2H). The conference programme covered a range of key topics such as epidemiology, surveillance, information technology in infection prevention and control, decontamination, blood borne viruses, antimicrobial resistance and rapid diagnostic methods.
The aims of the meeting were to enable sharing of experiences and good practices between member states, review ECDC’s current programme of work and to help determine future priorities for surveillance, prevention and control of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) across Europe.