4th EQAsia Matrix EQA: Selective isolation of presumptive ESBL-, AmpC- and carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli from cultures mimicking meat samples – 2024

This report summarizes the results of the 4th EQAsia Matrix EQA trial of the EQAsia project (Matrix EQA 2024), 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 2nd 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 2024 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 five HH and eight AH laboratories participated and submitted results for the Matrix EQA. These laboratories are from five countries situated in South and Southeast Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 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 90% of the laboratories.

All thirteen the participating laboratories submitted results for antimicrobial susceptibility testing and presented an average deviation of 11.3% (ranging from 4 to 21.4%) in terms of AST performance.