EUCAST

EUCAST ( European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing ) is a network under the auspices of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to conduct antimicrobial susceptibility testing as part of a European standard to standardize.

Current situation

The previously valid DIN standard could only be used to a limited extent for the sensitivity testing of microorganisms, as it is not practical for routine diagnostics. This is why the American CLSI standard ( Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute ) is usually used, less often the French standard.

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The standards describe minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of antibiotics depending on concentration and germ. In some cases, inhibition zone diameters are also mentioned as equivalent, depending on the germ, nutrient medium and the incubation conditions. These standards are updated regularly and can be viewed free of charge on the network's website, in contrast to the CLSI, which must be purchased annually. Since Australia could hardly exert any influence on the CLSI committees and it does not make sense to develop its own standard, it was decided to work with EUCAST, and Turkey and Israel are also represented.

organization

EUCAST is divided into a steering committee, executive committee, subcommittees and national AST committees.

Presidential Committee

In addition to all EU member states (with the exception of Malta and Cyprus ), Australia , Bosnia , Iceland , Israel , Croatia , Norway , Russia , Switzerland , Serbia and Turkey are represented by country representatives on the Presidential Committee.

Subcommittees

The EUCAST sub-committees are an important part . These deal with subject-specific topics and areas, e.g. B.

Subcommittee on Detection of Mechanisms of Resistance with Clinical and / or Epidemiological Significance;

Subcommittee on Yeast Sensitivity Testing;

Breakpoints subcommittee for new antimicrobial agents

National AST Committees

The EUCAST recommends the establishment of national AST committees (AST: Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing ). The following national institutions currently exist:

National Antibiotic Sensitivity Test Committee (NAK)
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)
Comité Antibiogramme - Société Française de Microbiologie (CA-SFM)
DIN German Institute for Standardization eV (DIN)
Dutch Working Group on Antibiotics (SWAB)
Estonian EUCAST Working Group
Norwegian Working Group on Antibiotics (NWGA)
Swedish Reference Group for Antibiotics (SRGA)
Swiss Society for Microbiology

Web links

Individual evidence

^ General Committee. In: EUCAST. February 15, 2012, accessed November 25, 2012 .
^ National Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Committees (NAC). In: EUCAST. Retrieved November 25, 2012 .
↑ National Antibiotic Sensitivity Test Committee - National Antibiotic Sensitivity Test Committee (NAK). Retrieved June 16, 2020 .

[1] General Committee. In: EUCAST. February 15, 2012, accessed November 25, 2012 .

[2] National Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Committees (NAC). In: EUCAST. Retrieved November 25, 2012 .

[3] National Antibiotic Sensitivity Test Committee - National Antibiotic Sensitivity Test Committee (NAK). Retrieved June 16, 2020 .