Journal of Clinical Virology 34 (2005) 87–96 Implementation of the Community Network of Reference Laboratories for Human Influenza in Europe Adam Meijer a,b,∗ , Martine Valette c , Jean-Claude Manuguerra d , Pilar P´ erez-Bre˜ na e , John Paget a , Caroline Brown a , Koos van der Velden a,f on behalf of the Virology Working Group of the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme 1 a European Influenza Surveillance Scheme Co-ordination Centre, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), P.O. Box 1568, 3500 BN Utrecht, The Netherlands b National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Diagnostic Laboratory for Infectious Diseases and Screening, Bilthoven, The Netherlands c Hospices Civils de Lyon, Laboratoire de Virologie, Centre National de R´ ef´ erence Influenza R´ egion-Sud, Lyon, France d Molecular Genetics of Respiratory Tract Viruses Unit,InstitutPasteur, Paris, France e Centro Nacional de Microbiologica, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain f Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Received 9 February 2005; accepted 9 February 2005 Abstract Background: The increased need for accurate influenza laboratory surveillance data in the European Union required formalisation of the existing network of collaborating national influenza reference laboratories participating in the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (EISS). Objective: To establish a Community Network of Reference Laboratories for Human Influenza in Europe (CNRL). Methods: Virologists in EISS defined the objective and tasks of the CNRL. Performance of the laboratories in the tasks was monitored by questionnaire-based inventories and quality control assessments (QCA). Subsequently, actions were defined to improve the performance of the CNRL. Results: The CNRL started in April 2003 and included as of May 2004 32 laboratories in 24 European countries. The objective is to provide high quality reference services for human influenza surveillance, early warning and pandemic preparedness in Europe. The defined basic tasks are direct detection, culture, typing, subtyping and strain characterisation of influenza virus, diagnostic influenza serology and storage of clinical specimens and virus isolates. The questionnaire-based inventories and QCAs revealed that the majority of CNRL laboratories perform well in most of the basic tasks, although improvements are needed in certain areas of virus testing. Therefore, task groups have been established to further improve the methods used in the network. The CNRL has proven its usefulness during the 2003–2004 season by the reporting of accurate data concerning the flu epidemic caused by A/Fujian/411/2002 (H3N2)-like viruses and by the rapid sharing of information, protocols and reagents during the A(H5N1) and A(H7N3) epizootics in Asia and Canada. Abbreviations: ARI, acute-respiratory-infections; BSL, BioSafety Laboratory; CFT, complement fixation test; CNRL, Community Network of Reference Laboratories for Human Influenza in Europe; EC, European Commission; ECDC, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; EISS, European In- fluenza Surveillance Scheme; EISS-CC, EISS co-ordination centre; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; ESCON, EU Epidemiological Surveillance Component of the Community Network; EU, European Union; EWRS, EU Early Warning and Response System; HA, hemaglutination assay; HI, hemagglu- tination inhibition assay; IF, immunofluorescence; ILI, influenza-like-illness; NAT, nucleic acid amplification techniques; NI, neuraminidase inhibition assay; NIC, National Influenza Centre; NIVEL, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus; VIRGIL, European surveillance network for vigilance against viral resistance; VN, virus neutralisation assay; WHO, World Health Organization; WHO-CC, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 30 2729857; fax: +31 30 2729729 (at NIVEL). E-mail address: a.meijer@nivel.nl (A. Meijer). 1 V. Alexandrescu (Romania), C. Barbara (Malta), H. Blaskovicova (Slovak Republic), C. Brown (EISS-CC, The Netherlands), L. Brydak (Poland), W. Carman (Scotland, UK), S. Coughlan (Ireland), P. Crovari (Italy), I. Donatelli (Italy), A. Griskevicius (Lithuania), M. Havl´ ıckov´ a (Czech Republic), A. Hay (England), R. Heckler (Germany), O. Hungnes (Norway), J. de Jong (The Netherlands), V.-I. Kalnina (Latvia), Z. Kristufkova (Slovak Republic), B. Lina (France), A. Linde (Sweden), T. Meerhoff (EISS-CC, The Netherlands), A. Meijer (EISS-CC, The Netherlands), L.P. Nielsen (Denmark), H. O’Neill (Northern Ireland, UK), M. Opp (Luxembourg), P. P´ erez-Bre˜ na (Spain), T. Popow-Kraupp (Austria), F. Pregliasco (Italy), K. Prosenc-Trilar (Slovenia), H. Rebelo de Andrade (Portugal), B. Schweiger (Germany), Y. Thomas (Switzerland), M. Valette (France), S. van der Werf (France), D. Westmoreland (Wales, UK), B. Wilbrink (The Netherlands), F. Yane (Belgium), M. Zambon (England, UK), T. Ziegler (Finland). 1386-6532/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcv.2005.02.005