title: External quality assessments for microbiologic diagnosis of diphtheria in Europe.
abstract: The European Diphtheria Surveillance Network (EDSN) ensures the reliable epidemiological and microbiologic assessment of disease prevalence in the European Union. Here, we describe a survey of current diagnostic techniques for diphtheria surveillance conducted across the European Union and report the results from three external quality assessment (EQA) schemes performed between 2010 and 2014.
authors.affiliation: WHO Global Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Diphtheria and Streptococcal Infections, Public Health England (PHE), London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Leonard
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Both
authors.affiliation: WHO Global Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Diphtheria and Streptococcal Infections, Public Health England (PHE), London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Shona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Neal
authors.affiliation: WHO Global Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Diphtheria and Streptococcal Infections, Public Health England (PHE), London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Aruni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Zoysa
authors.affiliation: WHO Global Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Diphtheria and Streptococcal Infections, Public Health England (PHE), London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ginder
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Czumbel
authors.affiliation: WHO Global Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Diphtheria and Streptococcal Infections, Public Health England (PHE), London, United Kingdom androulla.efstratiou@phe.gov.uk.
authors.forename: Androulla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Efstratiou
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D004165:Diphtheria / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005062:European Union; D006801:Humans; D059021:Laboratory Proficiency Testing; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care