3^rd EQAsia Matrix EQA on selective isolation of presumptive ESBL-, AmpC- and carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli from cultures mimicking meat samples - 2023

This report summarizes the results of the 3^rd EQAsia Matrix EQA trial of the EQAsia project (Matrix EQA 2023 ), a Fleming Fund Regional Grant aiming to strengthen the provision of External Quality Assessment (EQA) services across the One Health sector among National Reference Laboratories / Centres of Excellence in South and Southeast Asia. EQAsia has been granted a 2^nd phase ( October 2023 to December 2025 ) to continue to deliver the established EQA for both the Human Health (HH sector) and Food and Animal Health (AH sector) laboratories in the region.

The trial was carried out in October-November 2023 and included isolation of E. coli presumptive of producing either ESBL, AmpC or carbapenemase enzymes from lyophilized cultures mimicking meat content, followed by antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of the isolates.

A total of three HH and six AH laboratories participated and submitted results for the Matrix EQA These laboratories are from seven countries situated in South and Southeast Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, and Vietnam).

The participants used the recommended methods for selective isolation of the presumptive ESBL-, AmpC or carbapenemase-producing E. coli isolates from the cultures mimicking meat content and applied biochemical tests for confirmation of the bacterial identification.

The four samples of presumptive ESBL-, AmpC or carbapenemase-producing E. coli were correctly identified as positive by at least 55.6 % of the laboratories.

Eight of the participating laboratories submitted results for antimicrobial susceptibility testing and presented an average deviation of 13.4 % (ranging from 2.7 to 29.2 %) in terms of AST performance.