National Reference Laboratory for Haemophilus Infections
The NRL is accredited to ČSN EN ISO 15189 as a public health laboratory by the Czech Accreditation Institute.
Head: Ludmila Novakova, M.Sc.
E-mail: ludmila.novakova@szu.cz
- monitors characteristics of Haemophilus strains isolated in microbiology laboratories (verification of results from field laboratories and Haemophilus influenzaebiotyping and serotyping);
- cooperates in surveillance programs for invasive diseases caused by Haemophilus influenzaein the Czech Republic;
- cooperates in antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Haemophilus influenzae;
- stores Haemophilusstrains for further analysis;
- determines the serum levels of antibodies against Haemophilus influenzae b by Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA);
- provides guidance to microbiology laboratories in the Czech Republic;
- provides pregraduate and postgraduate training, consulting, information, and courses;
- updates, tests, and develops diagnostic methods for Haemophilus strains;
- implements and uses molecular biological diagnostic methods;
- regularly updates the recommended standard laboratory methods;
- is part of international projects: EMGM (The European Meningococcal and Haemophilus Disease Society, ), EU-IBD (European Invasive Bacterial Disease Surveillance Network), IRIS (Invasive Respiratory Infections Surveillance);
- providing data to international databases: TESSy (The European Surveillance System) and PubMLST (Public databases for molecular typing and microbial genome diversity)
- successfully participates in the international external quality assessment schemes.