On 20 September 2022, the Ministry of Health in Uganda, together with the World Health Organization - Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO), confirmed an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) due to Sudan ebolavirus in Mubende District, Uganda.
Recent epidemics of Ebola virus disease in Africa have increased the potential risk of Ebola virus transmission via donated blood and blood components, cells, tissues and organs (substances of human origin; SoHO), not only locally and regionally in Africa, but also in non-endemic unaffected areas such as Europe due to population movements.
An original outbreak of Ebola virus disease that begun in West Africa in December 2013, mainly affecting Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has now ended.
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.