Subcommittee on Antifungal Susceptibility Testing (AFST)

The laboratory for testing of antifungal agents is currently hosted by the Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark. The laboratory for fungal AST is mandated to lead the development of antifungal susceptibility testing methods by the EUCAST AFST Steering Committee. For AST of fungi, the laboratory uses broth microdilution MIC determination for yeast, mould, and microconidia-forming dermatophyte species in accordance with methods described by EUCAST. Moreover, azole agar screening is used for A. fumigatus, also according to the EUCAST method.

The EDL (Fungi) offers the following services:

1. Development of EUCAST AFST methods.
2. Development and revision of AFST QC criteria for existing and new antifungal agents.
3. Generation of MIC datasets for the common human pathogenic fungal species for old and new antifungal agents.
4. Partnership with the EUCAST Laboratory Network to perform developmental work, generate multi-centre wild-type MIC distributions, and validate new methods and criteria.
5. MIC determination with a three (yeasts) or four (moulds) working day turnaround time from receipt of isolates. The non-profit costs are listed on the EUCAST website.
6. Provision of assistance to laboratories to troubleshoot when there are performance issues with methods.
7. Provision of assistance to manufacturers to troubleshoot when there are performance issues with products.
8. Issue of warnings on the EUCAST website when commercial materials with unacceptable quality are discovered.
9. Hosting of 1–5 day training visits to the EDL by colleagues from other laboratories.

Contact information for EUCAST Development Laboratory for fungi

Maiken Cavling Arendrup
Statens Serum Institute
Unit for Mycology, building 211, 1st floor
Dept. Microbiology & Infection Control
Artillerivej 5
DK-2300 Copenhagen S
Email: maiken.c.arendrup(at)escmid.org
Tel: (+45) 3268 3223
Websites: www.ssi.dk