This Expert Opinion outlines some pre-conditions that are considered to be essential at the national level prior to the use of new drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis, as well as specific conditions needed in order to successfully implement new TB drugs/regimens.
This report aims to bring the different components of generic outbreak management and tuberculosis specific policies and guidelines together, to develop a more comprehensive package of guidance to capture the elements that are specific for TB incidents affecting children in congregate settings.
In May 2012 a collection of five strains of Haemophilus spp was sent to 28 participating reference laboratories in the IBD-labnet surveillance network for quality assurance testing. The laboratories were asked to characterise the five strains by performing standard laboratory protocols for the methods usually used by the laboratory for: species identification, biotyping and serotyping by serological methods and/or PCR.
The results of this EQA are published in the this report.
ECDC is addressing the harmonisation and improvement of pertussis diagnosis for surveillance and outbreak detection/monitoring in order to assure quality and comparability of data. The guidance and protocol are intended for real-time PCR on DNA extracted from clinical specimens obtained from patients with suspected whooping cough (i.e. Bordetella pertussis or B. parapertussis).
The goal of this guidance is to contribute towards preventing as many MDR TB and XDR TB cases as possible in the EU/EEA. Given that MDR TB and XDR TB is becoming more prevalent, the issue of how to manage contacts of MDR TB patients is becoming increasingly relevant. The specific aim of this document is to provide guidance on issues relevant to the management of contacts of MDR TB and XDR TB patients.
This evidence-based guidance is designed to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of national strategies and programmes in countries in Europe in order to reduce and prevent infections among people who inject drugs.
The content of this joint guidance was developed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) with the support of a technical advisory group composed of policy makers, service providers, civil society representatives and preventative health experts from throughout the EU/EEA.
This report sets out the evidence on IGRAs and their use in the diagnosis of latent and active tuberculosis.After reviewing all available evidence, the expert panel concluded that ‘IGRAs should not replace the standard diagnostic methods for diagnosing active TB.’