Denmark and Sweden have formed a public health consortium to jointly establish an EU reference laboratory (EURL) for antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which will contribute to diagnostics and infection preparedness. The AMR EURL is one of six EURLs designated by the European Commission (EC) for public health with the aim of further strengthening the EU’s defenses in the face of serious cross-border threats.
Based in the One Health approach, the recently designated EURLs will support national public health laboratories by ensuring data comparability and capacity strengthening on laboratory methods at the EU level, including efforts to align on diagnostics and testing for surveillance, notification, and reporting of diseases. (Aside from the AMR EURL, the five other EURLs will focus on vector-borne viral pathogens; emerging rodent-borne and zoonotic viral pathogens; emerging, high-risk zoonotic bacterial pathogens; Legionella; and diphtheria and pertussis).