Today’s cross-border public health risks call for continued strengthening of the capacities for disease detection, information exchange and joint efforts to strengthen public health preparedness and response within the EU.
The European Commission designates and funds EU Reference Laboratories (EURLs) in public health to support national reference laboratories in improving diagnostics, testing methods and surveillance of serious cross-border health threats. The purpose is to facilitate data comparability and promote good practice and alignment on diagnostic testing methods and uniformity of disease surveillance, notification and disease reporting across EU countries.
To strengthen EU-wide health threat preparedness and response, the European Commission has recently established three new EURLs for public health, specialising on:
- Food- and water-borne viruses (e.g. Hepatitis A and E);
- Food- and waterborne bacteria (e.g. Salmonella spp., Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter spp., Shigella spp);
- Food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa (e.g. Echinococcus spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spp., and Plasmodium spp).
EURL on food- and water-borne viruses (EURL-PH-FWDV)
The EU population is largely susceptible to hepatitis A virus (HAV) and there is a constant risk of hepatitis A virus (HAV) being introduced in the EU from countries where this virus is much more common. HAV cases must be reported to public authorities. While diagnostics and typing of HAV are well established, there are areas for improvement, for instance, in the techniques used to identify the different HAV strands (“HAV typing methods”).
On the other hand, hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the most common cause of acute hepatitis in the EU. However, the infection often remains undetected since testing methods are not sufficiently standardised. Another issue is under-reporting of HEV and inconsistent HEV data sharing. This prevents timely detection and effective response to HEV outbreaks across the EU. Therefore, this novel EURL-PH-FWDV tool will:
- Improve diagnostic techniques and capabilities of EU countries’ laboratories, for example, through training, workshops, scientific advice, use of standardised protocols, quality assessment schemes for hepatitis A and E viruses and collaboration;
- Provide robust reference diagnostics including molecular typing, i.e. analyses of the genetic material of pathogens to identify differences and classify them into specific strains or types;
- Serve as a ‘central hub’ to the disease network on HAV and HEV reference diagnostics, technical support and standardised protocols and data sharing and analysis, e.g. by gathering and integrating genome sequencing data for hepatitis A and E. This boosts HAV and HEV surveillance and outbreak detection across the Union.
EURL-PH-FWDV also provides the European Centre for Disease Control services on outbreak investigation, risk assessments and bioinformatics pipelines for genomic data analysis, all contributing to improved public health response and data management.
EURL for food- and waterborne bacteria (EURL-PH-FWDB)
Over 200 diseases are caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances, according to the World Health Organisation. Moreover, contaminated water and poor sanitation expose individuals to preventable health risks. This growing public health challenge causes considerable strains on healthcare and contributes significantly to the global burden of disease and mortality.
Supporting laboratories in the food- and waterborne disease network, the new EURL focused on bacteria will:
- Enhance diagnostic accuracy and consistency;
- Strengthen collaboration between network laboratories to enhance knowledge sharing, standardise testing and improve surveillance and outbreak response;
- Align laboratories with international standards by providing training and technical support, while fostering global collaboration through a One Health approach to address zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and climate-related health risks.
Focusing on parasitic pathogens, the EURL for food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa (EURL-PH-HP) will:
- Develop and validate diagnostic methods;
- Establish harmonised and uniform testing for helminths (Echinococcus spp and Trichinella spp) and protozoa (Toxoplasma spp and Plasmodium spp) that cause disease in humans;
- Support existing networks on diagnostics, testing methods and use of tests, allowing for uniform disease surveillance, notification and reporting across the EU.
Background
EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders from 2021 to 2027.
