Salmonella

Since 2011, the Service Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases of Sciensano, which is responsible for the surveillance of infectious diseases, has been coordinating a network of reference laboratories for human microbiology called National Reference Centres (NRC). Each NRC consists of one or more laboratories and is designated as such for a pathogen or a group of pathogens according to clearly defined criteria in a procedure that is repeated at most every 5 years.

Strains and associated metadata from patients with Salmonella and Shigella infections, voluntarely submitted to the NRC (85% estamated coverage). Metadata includes client info and patient info (sex, age, gender, postcal code, antibiotic treatment, clinical outcome, travel history), and information on the result of the strain typing (serotype, antimicrobial resistance).