Establishment and reinforcement of the national reference centers for human microbiology in Belgium

doi:10.1186/0778-7367-70-16

Arch Public Health. 2012; 70(1): 16.

Published online 2012 June 22. doi: 10.1186/0778-7367-70-16

PMCID: PMC3436681

Establishment and reinforcement of the national reference centers for human microbiology in Belgium

Gaëtan Muyldermans,¹ Amber Litzroth,¹ Geneviève Ducoffre,¹ Sophie Quoilin,¹ and the Medical-Technical Advisory Board

¹Institute of Public Health, Public Health and Surveillance, J. Wytsmanstreet 14, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

Corresponding author.

Gaëtan Muyldermans: gaetan.muyldermans/at/wiv-isp.be; Amber Litzroth: amber.litzroth/at/wiv-isp.be; Geneviève Ducoffre: genevieve.ducoffre/at/wiv-isp.be; Sophie Quoilin: sophie.quoilin/at/wiv-isp.be; the Medical-Technical Advisory Board: gaetan.muyldermans/at/wiv-isp.be

Received November 23, 2011; Accepted June 6, 2012.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This article has been corrected. See Arch Public Health. 2013 April 22; 71(1): 8.

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract

Background

Microbiology reference laboratories are critical in the development of high-quality clinical and public health services. In Belgium, the reference laboratories performed their activities on a voluntary basis and lacked a legal status.

Methods

Pathogens or groups of pathogens necessitating a national reference center (NRC) were prioritized based on diagnostic and epidemiologic relevance. Terms of reference for each of these pathogens were developed.

Results

Recently, 40 NRCs for different pathogens or groups of pathogens have been installed in Belgium to fulfill the following core functions: offering reference diagnostics, collecting reference materials, sharing information and scientific advice, participating in national and international networks, collaborating with research workgroups, and contributing to surveillance activities.

Conclusions

These NRCs are important focal points of the national and international network in public health microbiology.

Keywords: National reference centers, Public health microbiology

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