ECDC’s external quality assurance (EQA) schemes are designed to evaluate the performance of laboratories, to identify areas for improvement in laboratory diagnostics relevant to disease surveillance and to ensure comparability of results between laboratories in EU/EEA countries.

The second EQA scheme for typing of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) was commissioned by ECDC and produced by Statens Serum Institut, Denmark. Forty-five laboratories of the Food- and Waterborne Diseases Network (FWD-Net) from 38 countries participated, of which 23 were from the EU/EEA countries.

The main objective of this EQA scheme was to assess whether typing of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) strains by laboratories within and outside the European Union was carried out uniformly and whether comparable results could be obtained.

The results highlight the importance of genotypic detection, together with the need for improvements in some laboratories regarding the detection methodology used for specific subtypes.

Read the External quality assurance scheme for typing of verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC)