European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) is a scientific committee for defining guidelines to interpret antimicrobial resistance. It was formed in 1997 and is jointly organized by

ESCMID The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) is a non-profit scientific international organization with headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Its mission is to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of inf ...

ECDC The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is an agency of the European Union (EU) whose mission is to strengthen Europe's defences against infectious diseases. It covers a wide spectrum of activities, such as: surveillance, ...

and other European laboratories. EUCAST guidelines are one of the most popular breakpoint guidelines used in antimicrobial susceptibility testing worldwide. The EUCAST guidelines are freely available to all of their users. Like the

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) is a volunteer-driven, membership-supported, not-for-profit, standards development organization. CLSI promotes the development and use of voluntary laboratory consensus standards and guideline ...

, EUCAST offers guidelines to interpret raw

minimum inhibitory concentration In microbiology, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is the lowest concentration of a chemical, usually a drug, which prevents visible growth of a bacterium or bacteria. MIC depends on the microorganism, the affected human being (in vivo onl ...

s (MICs), the lowest concentration of a chemical, usually a drug, which prevents visible growth of bacterium. The interpretation to

antimicrobial resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from the effects of antimicrobials. All classes of microbes can evolve resistance. Fungi evolve antifungal resistance. Viruses evolve antiviral resistance ...

(reported as "R") or antimicrobial susceptibility (reported as "S") differs for all bug-drug combinations which is why guidelines are needed.

References

Antimicrobial resistance organizations Biology in Europe {{Microbiology-stub