The XXVIII IUSTI (International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections) Europe Congress addressed the broad range of science and clinical practice in the field of sexually transmitted infections and HIV.
An EQA scheme for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae has been available to laboratories participating in ECDC’s European Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) surveillance network since 2010. This EQA scheme has so far shown high levels of inter-laboratory comparability in the presence of differing methodologies.
Chlamydia infection, campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, gonorrhoea and tuberculosis were the most commonly reported notifiable infectious diseases in the EU and EEA in 2014.
The Euro-GASP network carries out sentinel surveillance of gonococcal antimicrobial resistance in the EU/EEA and is strengthening capacity for gonococcal culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing through laboratory training and EQA schemes. In addition the network performs molecular typing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
This is an external quality assessment (EQA) scheme for Neisseria gonorrhoeae antimicrobial susceptibility established in 2007 as part of the European Surveillance to STIs programme.
The surveillance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae antimicrobial susceptibility in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) has been co-ordinated by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) since 2009.
Between 2008 and 2014, the overall rate of reported gonorrhoea infections has more than doubled across Europe, going up from 8 per 100 000 population to 20 cases per 100 000 persons.
They are young and mostly female: with more than 3.2 million cases between 2005 and 2014, chlamydia remains the most commonly reported sexually transmitted infection (STI) across Europe. The updated ECDC guidance on chlamydia control in Europe makes the case for national chlamydia control strategies in the EU Member States and shows ways to develop, implement or improve national or local control activities.