European Network for Highly Pathogenic Bacteria

The ENHPB is a European-wide laboratory network for the diagnostic of highly pathogenic bacteria which has been set up in the course of the EQADeBa project (“Establishment of Quality Assurances for Detection of Highly Pathogenic Bacteria of Potential Bioterrorism Risk“), funded by the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC Agreement n° 2007 204). EQADeBa was coordinated by the RKI and ran for 3 years from May 2008 until July 2011. The project has been carried out in cooperation with 23 partners from 21 European countries.

The ENHPB has recently become part of the EU funded Joint Action QUANDHIP (“Quality Assurance Exercises and Networking on the Detection of Highly Infectious Pathogens”). This Joint Action is coordinated by the Robert Koch-Institut, Germany, and carried out in close cooperation with the National Institute for Infectious Diseases “L. Spallanzani” (INMI), Italy, and additional 38 Partners (32 Associated and 6 Collaborating Partners) from 23 European countries. This Joint Action aims to link and consolidate the objectives of two existing networks dealing with highly infectious bacteria and viruses that emerged from the EQADeBa project, on the one hand, and the Euronet-P4-Lab project, coordinated by INMI, on the other.

The QUANDHIP Joint Action started in August 2011 and is running for 36 months giving the participating institutes the opportunity to continue the process of regularly organised EQAEs (External Quality Assurance Exercise), self-evaluation and testing of newly implemented methods by usage of repository strains, mutual training among partners, further development of biosafety and biosecurity issues as well as networking and exchange of experiences during project meetings. The agents especially focused in this framework are causing anthrax, tularemia, plague, glanders, melioidosis, brucellosis, and Q-fever.
A primary objective is to provide the necessary infrastructure, including early warning and rapid laboratory response capacity, for cross-border events, including deliberate and natural outbreaks of high consequence pathogens, at European level.

In addition, the ENHPB aims to link up laboratories working in the field of seldom but highly pathogenic bacteria. It will focus on the exchange of best practices for sample preparation, diagnostic methods and approaches as well as of epidemiological data on these mainly zoonotic pathogens. One outcome of the network should be the mutual support of the laboratories.

to the top