ECDC activities on microbiology

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, including those that are causing infectious diseases. It comprises several disciplines specialising in different types of microorganisms: viruses (virology), bacteria (bacteriology), fungi (mycology) and parasites (parasitology).

Public health microbiology is a cross-cutting area that spans the fields of human, animal, food, water, and environmental microbiology, with a focus on human health and disease. Public health microbiology laboratories play a central role in detection, monitoring, outbreak response, and providing scientific evidence to prevent and control infectious diseases.

It is of great importance to ensure sufficient microbiology capacity within the EU/EEA and to detect and characterise infectious agents in a timely and accurate manner in order to manage infectious threats. ECDC fosters the development of such capacity by encouraging cooperation between expert and reference laboratories.