European Union Reference Laboratory for Escherichia coli

ACTIVITIES

European Union Reference Laboratory for Public Health on Helminths and Protozoa

EURL-Public Health on Helminths and Protozoa

 

​​​​​Welcome to the official website of the European Union Reference Laboratory for Food-, Water- and Vector-borne Helminths and Protozoa (EURL-PH-HP), hosted by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS).

The EURL-PH-HP has been officially established by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2959, in accordance with article 15 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2371 on “Serious cross-border threats to health”. Following its designation, the EURL-PH-HP became operational on 1 January 2026, with a mandate of seven years entrusted by the European Commission. The EURL-PH-HP is part of the EURLs network for Public Health coordinated by the ECDC and is implemented and monitored by HaDEA.

The EURL-PH-HP is a Consortium composed of the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità - ISS, Italy), acting as Coordinator, and the Public Health Agency of Sweden (Folkhälsomyndigheten - PHAS).

The EURL-PH-HP focuses on parasitic pathogens of major public health relevance in Europe, including Echinococcus spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spp., and Plasmodium spp. Other parasites of public health concern (e.g. Leishmania spp., Taenia solium, Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia lamblia, Schistosoma spp., Strongyloides stercoralis, Trypanosoma cruzi) may be prioritised in collaboration with the FWD-Net and EVD-Net.

The EURL-PH-HP will support laboratory members of the ECDC disease networks - namely the European Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses Network (FWD-Net) and the European Emerging and Vector-borne Diseases Network (EVD-Net) - on matters related to diagnostics, testing strategies, and the implementation of methods enabling harmonised surveillance, notification, and reporting of parasitic diseases across Europe.

Within its mandate, the EURL-PH-HP will:
• Provide reference diagnostic and characterisation services
• Supply reference materials
• Deliver scientific advice and technical support
• Organise External Quality Assessment (EQA) schemes
• Support ECDC in outbreak situations with information and technical guidance
• Organise and deliver training activities
• Organise annual meetings

EURL-PH-HP