Abstract
From December 2013 to March 2016, West Africa experienced the largest Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak to date, leading to a European-wide activation of laboratory preparedness and response. At the end of the outbreak, laboratories associated with the two European preparedness networks of expert laboratories EMERGE JA and EVD-LabNet were invited to participate in an assessment of the response of European laboratories to the EBOV outbreak, to identify learning points and training needs to strengthen future outbreak responses. Response aspects assessed included diagnostics, biorisk management and quality assurance. The overall coverage of EBOV diagnostics in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) was found to be adequate although some points for quality improvement were identified. These included the need for relevant International Organization for Standardization (ISO) accreditation, the provision of EBOV external quality assessments (EQA) in periods where there is no emergency, facilitating access to controls and knowledge, biorisk management without compromising biosafety and a rapid public health response, and the need for both sustained and contingency funding for preparedness and response activities.
Highlights
From December 2013 onward, the world experienced the largest Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak to date, with more than 28,000 cases including more than 11,000 deaths mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone [1]
Upon declaration of the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) forecast that despite low probability of imported cases, a substantial number of people would need to be investigated to rule out EBOV infection in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) during the outbreak [4]
Two laboratory networks were actively involved in provision of EBOV diagnostic support: (i) the EU-funded joint-action initiative QUANDHIP that focused on high-consequence cross-border threats (highly pathogenic bacteria and risk group 4 (RG4) viruses) and was activated by the EU Health Security Committee (HSC) in August 2014, and (ii) the ECDC-funded European Network for Imported Viral Diseases (ENIVD, named EVD-LabNet [8,9,10])
Summary
From December 2013 onward, the world experienced the largest Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak to date, with more than 28,000 cases including more than 11,000 deaths mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone [1]. The outbreak with EBOV strain Zaire in West Africa was declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization (WHO) between 8 August 2014 and 29 March 2016 [2,3]. Two laboratory networks were actively involved in provision of EBOV diagnostic support: (i) the EU-funded joint-action initiative QUANDHIP (continued as EMERGE JA) that focused on high-consequence cross-border threats (highly pathogenic bacteria and risk group 4 (RG4) viruses) and was activated by the EU Health Security Committee (HSC) in August 2014, and (ii) the ECDC-funded European Network for Imported Viral Diseases (ENIVD, named EVD-LabNet [8,9,10]). After the end of the PHEIC, EMERGE JA conducted an inventory of the demands on EBOV diagnostics present Pre-arranged international agreement for EBOV laboratory testing
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