ICS Quality Control Program for Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis

The International Circumpolar Surveillance (ICS) quality control program for meningo disease includes five reference labs conducting the identification and serotype/serogroup of Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis. These five labs include Laboratoire de santé publique du Québec (LSPQ), ProvLab Alberta, Arctic Investigations Program (AIP) in AK, Staten Serum Institute (SSI) in Copenhagen, Denmark, and National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg. The NML provides each participating laboratory with two proficiency panels every other year. A panel contains 5 isolates from Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis including strains with a variety of serotypes or serogroups. The objectives of the QC program are to provide participating laboratories with external proficiency testing that monitors routine protocols as they are applied to the diagnosis of Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis, to identify and correct potential problems and to continually improve services.