The surveillance of gonococcal antimicrobial susceptibility surveillance in Europe is essential for detecting emerging and increasing antimicrobial resistance and making quality-assured data available to inform revisions of treatment guidelines. ECDC coordinates the Euro-GASP network.
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.
The aims of the meeting were to enable sharing of experiences and good practices between member states, review ECDC’s current programme of work and to help determine future priorities for surveillance, prevention and control of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) across Europe.
ECDC encourages adoption of EU and ISO quality standards for diagnostic and reference laboratory services by its partners in EU laboratory networks and in line with national arrangements and regulations.
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.
The European Network for STI Surveillance comprises the contact points for STI surveillance that are nominated by the competent bodies for surveillance in EU/EFTA, and contains both epidemiological and microbiological experts.