Antimicrobial Resistant Strains: resistant reference strains and susceptibility testing control strains

The significant increase in the incidence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria observed in recent years represents a significant challenge to public health microbiology worldwide. Not least among these challenges are extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and carbapenemases among Enterobacteriaceae and other Gram-negative micro-organisms and vancomycin resistance among enterococci.

Public Health England’s Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections Reference Unit (AMRHAI) is the national reference laboratory responsible for the detection and investigation of antibiotic resistance, especially in healthcare associated bacterial pathogens, and offers molecular detection of the genetic determinants of certain key resistances.

NCTC, working in partnership with AMRHAI, offers a range of reference strains with characterised resistance mechanisms as well as susceptibility controls strains recommended by the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST), the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and Public Health England.

Download the NCTC Antimicrobial Resistant Strains brochure

Related Links:

• PHE Guidance: Detection of acquired carbapenemases: commercial assays
• PHE Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections (AMRHAI) Reference Unit
• The European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST)
• Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI)
• UK Standards for Microbiological Investigations
• British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)