This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) the period 21-27 January 2024 and includes updates on SARS-CoV-2, influenza, cholera, chikungunya, dengue and zika.
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).
This report of the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention
and Control presents the results of the zoonoses monitoring activities carried out in 2016 in 37
European countries (28 Member States and nine non-MS).
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.
This report presents the results of the sixth round of the external quality assessment (EQA) scheme for typing of verocytotoxin-producing E.coli. The EQA was carried out from January to April 2015, with 29 public health reference laboratories from 30 EU countries participating.
This report presents the results of an external quality assessment carried out in 2014 to test laboratories’ ability to correctly identify strains of Haemophilus influenzae.