National Reference Laboratory for Meningococcal Infections
The NRL is accredited to ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17025 as a test laboratory and to ČSN EN ISO 15189 as a public health laboratory by the Czech Accreditation Institute.
Head: Mgr. Zuzana Okonji
- verifies the identification of Neisseria, N. meningitidis and serogrouping results as referred by microbiology laboratories in the Czech Republic;
- performs molecular characterization (MLST, WGS, PorA, FetA, PenA, MenB vaccine antigen genes) of N. meningitidis isolates from microbiology laboratories in the Czech Republic;
- maintains the collection of N. meningitidis strains from invasive meningococcal disease, healthy carriers and respiratory diseases (more than 5000 isolates collected since 1971);
- maintains the database of microbiological, epidemiological, and clinical data related to the collection of N. meningitidis strains;
- performs PCR detection and typing of N. meningitidis, H. influenzae, and S. pneumoniae from clinical specimens;
- cooperates with the NRL for Antibiotics in N. meningitidis antimicrobial susceptibility testing;
- organizes the nationwide invasive meningococcal disease surveillance and processes the data submitted;
- provides background data for the anti-meningococcal vaccination strategy in the Czech Republic;
- has been involved in the nationwide external quality assessment schemes (EQAS);
- provides postgraduate lecturing and training;
- participates in the international projects EMGM (European Monitoring Group on Meningococci), EU-IBD (European Invasive Bacterial Disease Surveillance Network), IRIS (Invasive Respiratory Infections Surveillance);
- reports data to to international databases: TESSy (The European Surveillance System), PubMLST (Public databases for molecular typing and microbial genome diversity), EMERTII (European Meningococcal Epidemiology in Real Time);
- has been involved in international projects on the development of the vaccine against N. meningitidis;
- successfully participates in the international external quality assessment schemes (EQAS).