European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme: external quality assessment scheme for Neisseria gonorrhoeae antimicrobial susceptibility testing

​An EQA scheme for Neisseria gonorrhoeae antimicrobial susceptibility was established in 2007 as part of the European Surveillance to STIs programme. The EQA scheme is available for all participating laboratories in the STI surveillance network. An EQA scheme is an essential component of a laboratory-based surveillance programme; ensuring comparability of data between and within testing centres and successful performance in EQA is a requirement for laboratories participating in de-centralised testing as part of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance across Europe.
The laboratories participating in the EQA scheme for susceptibility testing of N. gonorrhoeae showed good levels of competence and capability on the whole in isolating and testing strains of unknown phenotype