Infection with Salmonella spp. is the second most reported zoonotic disease in humans with 60 050 reported cases in 2021 in the European Union (EU) and Salmonella is associated with the highest number of foodborne outbreaks. The overall EU trend of salmonellosis incidence for the years 2017 to 2021 have not changed significantly. To prevent foodborne diseases such as salmonellosis, human surveillance systems at different levels are essential to monitor the disease and to have an early detection and response to outbreaks.
External quality assessment (EQA) is an essential part of any laboratory-based surveillance system, allowing for the monitoring of performance and comparability of results from participating laboratories, identification of potential issues and deployment of resources and training where necessary.
External quality assessment (EQA) is an essential part of any laboratory-based surveillance system, allowing for the monitoring of performance and comparability of results from participating laboratories, identification of potential issues and deployment of resources and training where necessary.
This report presents the results of the 11th round of the external quality assessment (EQA-11) scheme for typing of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica organised for the national public health national reference laboratories (NPHRLs) in ECDC’s Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses network (FWD-Net) managed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The EQA-11 scheme was arranged by the Section for Foodborne Infections at the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) in Denmark.
The Protocol is targeted at the national public health reference laboratories to guide the susceptibility testing needed for EU surveillance and the reporting to ECDC.
Between 15 March and 6 July 2021, 348 confirmed S. Braenderup sequence type 22 (ST22) cases were reported in 12 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries and the United Kingdom (UK).
ECDC is supporting a large number of targeted External Quality Assessment (EQA) schemes with voluntary participation by reference or primary laboratories, which are active members of EU surveillance networks.