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Regional laboratories and reference centers:
Regional reference laboratory for foodborne diseases (LRMTA)
The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e Toscana, laboratory accredited to ACCREDIA no. 0201 according to UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025, was selected by the Lazio Regional Council (deliberation no. 833, February 20, 1996) to be the Regional Reference Centre for Pathogenic Enterobacteria (CREP). The specific roles of CREP and of public/private hospitals have been defined (via deliberation of Regional Council no. 4259, August 4, 1998).
Following the Commissary Decree “ad Acta”, no. U00452 – Regional Plan for surveillance and management of Infectious emergencies during the Jubilee 2015-2016 of September 29th 2015, CREP commenced their collaboration with the Regional Service for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Control of Infectious diseases (SERESMI), the principal aim being to provide information on bacterial strains of human origin.
The Decree recognizes the Regional Reference laboratory as a centre of competence for foodborne diseases, in particular Salmonella; subsequently, this was extended to include also Listeria monocytogenes.
As a contributor to ENTER-NET (Enteric Pathogen Network), CREP collaborates with the National Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance (NRL-AR) situated at the IZSLT. As a contributor to ENTER-VET collaborates also with the National Reference Laboratory for Salmonellosis (IZS, Venezie).
In the last few years CREP has significantly broadened the scope of its competencies. In addition to the molecular and serological identification of human and animal strains of Salmonella, CREP now conducts studies also on other pathogens such as Yersinia enterocolitica, Shigella, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli STEC.
Participation in ENTER-NET involves also the collation, including computerization, of all the information on human strains available to CREP and submitting this to the Istituto Superiore di SanitĂ (ISS).
CREP participates also in ENTER-VET as the Reference Laboratory for the Region of Lazio for Salmonella strains of veterinary origin (food, animal and environment); data are forwarded to the National Reference Laboratory for salmonellosis.
As far as Listeria monocytogenes is concerned, the centre acts as a conduit for the IZS’s National Reference Laboratory (NRL) in Teramo through the SEAP system (Sistema Informativo Agenti Patogeni Alimentari). All strains of veterinary origin are sent to the NRL after first going through the required diagnostic procedures. Listeria monocytogenes strains of human origin go to the ISS .