This report presents the results of the eighth round of the external quality assessment (EQA-8) scheme for typing of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) organised for laboratories providing data to the Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses Network (FWD-Net) managed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Influenza epidemics occur every winter with high impact on disease burden, hospitalisations and excess mortality in countries in the WHO European Region. To understand the characteristics of circulating influenza viruses during seasonal epidemics, virological influenza surveillance is performed and detected viruses are further characterised at national influenza centres (NICs) that are part of the wider network of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS). External quality assessments (EQAs) are important instruments in assessing the quality of the generated data that are reported nationally and internationally through The European Surveillance System (TESSy).

This report presents the results of the second European Pertussis Laboratory Surveillance Network (EUPert-LabNet) EQA scheme for Bordetella pertussis PCR funded by ECDC on behalf of EUPert-LabNet. The EQA study was conducted between February and March 2018.

This report provides an analysis of the external quality assessment (EQA) performance of laboratories participating in the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) in 2017.

This report presents the results of the eighth round of the external quality assessment (EQA-8) scheme for typing of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica organised for public health national reference laboratories (PH NRLs) in ECDC’s Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses network (FWD-Net).

This report presents the results of the fifth round of the external quality assessment (EQA-5) scheme for typing of Listeria monocytogenes organised for laboratories in the Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses Network (FWD-Net).

ECDC’s Microbiology Coordination Section developed a multi-disease ECDC’s strategy for cost-efficient design and management of ECDC EQAs.

This external quality assessment (EQA) to assess the ability of national reference laboratories from EU/EEA Member States to correctly perform laboratory serodiagnostic tests for pertussis was a collaborative study organised from February to April 2016.

Annual report of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) 2016

An EQA scheme for antimicrobial susceptibility testing in Neisseria gonorrhoeae has been available to laboratories participating in ECDC’s European Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) surveillance network since 2010. This is the third EQA to be published on antimicrobial susceptibility testing in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.