< PreviousYEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE18 • Publication of “Laboratory Methods for Detection of Infectious Agents and Serological Response in Humans with Tick-Borne Infections: A Systematic Review of Evaluations Based on Cli- nical Patient Samples”, Anna J Henningsson et al. Frontiers in Public Health 2021 • Publication of “Are Other Tick-Borne Infections Overlooked in Patients Investigated for Lyme Neuroborreliosis? A Large Retrospective Study from South-eastern Sweden”, Paula Gyllemark et al. Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases. 2021 • Organised two webinars: “Virtual ESGBOR: ICLB Symposium on Lyme Borreliosis: from Ecology to Prevention” and “North- Tick-ESGBOR International Webinar on Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases” September - November 2021 • Publication of the “European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases: 2021 update on the treatment gui- dance document for Clostridioides difficile infection in adults” J van Prehn et al. CMI 2021 • Publication of four other articles regarding Clostridioides diffi- cile infection • Organisation of the virtual webinars “Treatment and manage- ment of severe Clostridioides difficile infection” and “Recur- rent Clostridioides difficile infection” • Supporting Organiser of the virtual event “World Microbe Forum”, 20-24 June 2021 • Co-organising the online post-graduate course “Cutting edge: improving survival rates of severe skin and soft-tissue infec- tions”, May 2021 • Preparation of the publication for the EUROBACT 2 study on Hospital acquired bloodstream infections admitted in ICU to be finalized in 2022 • Ongoing research project JIR-ICU study is a retrospective multicenter study on positive pneumocysits PCR in ICU. It will officially start on 15 January 2022 Figure legend: ESCMID 2021 update on the treatment guidance document for Clostridioides difficile infection in adults (van Prehn et al., CMI 2021) Figure legend: Photo collage of ESGCIP activities and expertise • Organisation of the post-graduate course “Postgraduate course in clinical parasitology” 20-24 September 2021, Amsterdam, Netherlands • Organiser of the online technical workshop “Parasitology Work- shop”, 25-26 May 2021 • Published the first 2 ESCGP Newsletters in 2021 • Excellent participation in ECCMID 2022 with 4 accepted session proposals Figure legend: Trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi Figure legend: Adult fe- male Ixodes ricinus tick laying eggs (by Volker Fingerle) YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE 19 • Organisation of the online post-graduate course “Next-gene- ration sequencing in routine clinical microbiology and infecti- ous diseases”, 27-29 September 2021 • Organised a series of “Lunch time Keynote lectures” building participation to almost 200 attendees at the latest instalment • Ongoing project on NGS reporting “ESGMD and ESGEM Survey on a new genome sequencing-reporting form for bacteria” to design, standardize, integrate the final reporting recommen- dations into online data sharing platforms and publish the results as a guideline document • Publication of the article “Microbiology in minimally invasive autopsy: best techniques to detect infection. ESGFOR guideli- nes” Saegeman V et al. Forensic Science Med Pathol 2021 • Co-organising the online post-graduate course “Infections in the elderly - from bench to (beyond) bed”, 14-15 October 2021 • Publication of the article “Myocarditis Presenting as Sudden Death in Infants and Children: A Single Centre Analysis by ESGFOR Study Group” Neagu O, et al. Pediatr Dev Pathol Jul-Aug 2021 • Publication of the consensus paper “The use of Faecal Micro- biota Transplantation (FMT) in Europe: A Europe-wide sur- vey”, Baunwall SMD, Terveer EM, Dahlerup JF, et al. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2021 • Supporting organiser of the conference “On Frontiers in Feces Microbiota Transplantations”, hybrid online and onsite Aar- hus, 26 august 2021 • Organised the virtual webinar “About Feces Microbiota Trans- plantation, Live Biotherapeutic Products and their clinical applications” 18 June 2021 Figure legend: ESGEM is devoted to epidemiological typing of microorga- nisms. Molecular typing is an essential component of microbiology and control of infection services Figure legend: Microbes colonising our mucosal sur- faces affect the interaction between virus and host during acute viral infections. © Wouter de Steenhuijsen Piters • Recipients of the ESCMID Study Group Excellence Award for continued high performance over the last 3 years in all Study Group activities • Publication of 6 original articles including “1.1. The EBJIS definiti- on of periprosthetic joint infection”, Martin McNally, Ricardo Sousa, Marjan Wouthuyzen-Bakker et al. Bone Joint J. 2021 • Organiser of the online post-graduate course “Implant associa- ted infection: basic principles of diagnosis and treatment”, 2 June 2021 • Organised 2 webinars as part of the ESGIAI Interdisciplinary case presentation series: “Atypical pathogens of PJI” and “PJI due to Brucella” Figure legend: Gastroscopy image, showing an Infected vascu- lar graft penetrating into the duodenal wall.YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE20 • Ongoing preparation and development in the ESCMID guideli- nes project “Diagnosis and treatment of brain abscess” • Organiser of the post-graduate course “Hot Topics in Central Nervous System Infections”, 14 April, 28 April, 12 May, 19 May 2021, Online • Robust contribution to ECCMID 2022 with five submitted proposals and three accepted into the scientific programme • Publication of the article “Propensity Score and Desirability of Outcome Ranking Analysis of Ertapenem for Treatment of Nonsevere Bacteremic Urinary Tract Infections Due to Exten- ded-Spectrum-Beta-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacterales in Kidney Transplant Recipients” Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez B et al. Anti- microb Agents Chemother. 2021 • Co-organising the online post-graduate course “Invasive fungal infections in critically ill patients”, 22-23 November 2021 • Publication of the article “International survey of human herpes virus 8 screening and management in solid organ transplanta- tion” Mularoni A et al. Transpl Infect Dis. 2021 • Composition of two reviews regarding management of CO- VID-19 in elderly in general and those with haematological malignancies to be published in 2022 • Publication of a survey on clinical practice change during difference COVID-19 waves • Acceptance of a publication of a study concluding that premorbid aspirin use is not associated with lower mortality in older inpatients with COVID-19 • Conducting an online, multiple groups post-graduate course on infections in and organizing an additional course to be held in Venice 2022, on vaccination in elderly Figure legend: MRI of the brain showing a heart shaped brain abscess due to cerebral toxoplasmosis on the T1 weighed images with gadolinium (NEW) Figure legend: Structure of different anti-tumour necrosis factor- a(TNF-a) agents. Human origin is shown in grey, murine origin in black. (Clin Microbiol Infect. 2018 Jun;24 Suppl 2:S10-S20). • Supporting organiser of the EUPHA Congress with talk titled “Novel digital tools and approaches to improve migrant health in European primary care services”, November 2021 • Published four articles including “Migration and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease in Europe: a systematic review” Anna Deal, et al. Lancet Infect Dis. 2021 • Supported the publication of the ECDC Technical report “Redu- cing COVID-19 transmission and strengthening vaccine uptake among migrant populations in Europe” • Organizer of the upcoming ESCMID Educational Course on Migra- tion Health to take place in 2022. YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE 21 Figure legend: (A) Mycoplasma pneumoniae colonies on an agar plate (mag 20x). (B) Broth microdilution for determining antibiotic suscep- tibility of mycoplasma isolates. (C) Transmission election micrograph showing inclusions containing Chlamydia trachomatis in Hela cells. • Ongoing survey established by ESGLI on “Legionella PCR capability across Europe” to ascertain the differences bet- ween different European countries in relation to their Legio- nella PCR testing protocols on respiratory samples • Organised 3 ESGLI webinars including one on “Legionella diagnosis and beyond” online • Ongoing research project as part of an ESCMID Research Grant “A Pan European standardization of Legionella antibio- tic susceptibility testing”. • Supported the International Organisation for Mycoplasmology Biennial Congress virtual four-day event, November 2021, including providing financial support for five young-investigators to attend • Ongoing ESCMID Study Group Grant research project for Genome- wide association study to identify differential virulence among Mycoplasma pneumoniae isolates from across Europe and Israel. • Start of the MyCOVID Survey research project investigating the global Mycoplasma pneumoniae prevalence before and during the COVID 19 pandemic, after the implementation of non-pharmaceuti- cal interventions against COVID-19 • Organised five one-hour webinars for ESGMD members on topics related to molecular and genomic diagnostics e.g. use of MALDI-TOF, next-generation sequencing in diagnostics and external quality as- sessments (EQAs). • Helped arrange two EQAs on SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequencing and published a paper on the first EQA (Wegner et al, 2021, JCM, doi: 10.1128/JCM.01698-21) • Organised or co-organised three post-graduate courses: “Next-gene- ration sequencing in routine clinical microbiology and infectious diseases”, “Applications of MALDI-TOF Mass-Spectrometry in Clinical Mi crobiology” and “Infections in the elderly - from bench to (beyond) bed” Figure legend: Blue white Legionella anisa spelling out the ESGLI name Figure legend: The post-graduate course on next-generation sequen- cing in diagnostics was well received with 299 participants from all continents. (Photo: shutterstock) • Publication of the article “Initiation and completion of treatment for latent tuberculosis infection in migrants globally: a syste- matic review and meta-analysis” Rustage K et al. Lancet Infect Dis 2021 • Co-organiser of the online post-graduate course “Update in tuberculosis and non-tuberculosis mycobacterial infections dia- gnosis and clinical management”, 15-17 April 2021 • Ongoing joint multicentric study with ESGIAI to assess the bur- den and characteristics of prosthetic joint infection caused by M. tuberculosis complex Figure legend: REM image of Mycobacteri- um abscessus (13000x magnification)YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE22 • Publication of two articles on Ultraviolet disinfection robots to improve hospital cleaning • Contributions to four ESCMID Guideline productions on MRE IP, brain abscess, COVID-19 and SSI • Ongoing survey into sampling the patient environment on sampling indications and methods of environmental samples for infection prevention and control purposes • Organiser of the upcoming technical workshop “Infection Prevention and Control: Technical Hygiene” to take place in 2023 • Inauguration of a new study group as the ESCMID study group for Non-Traditional Antibacterial agents including 60 partici- pants from 15 countries. • Organized a session “Phage susceptibility testing A basis for understanding clinical data” on the Phage Futures Europe conference. • Organized 3 sessions for ECCMID 2022 • Organization of an online workshop on Personalized pha- ge therapy: basic principles of monitoring and treatment (PPT2022) to be held in June 2022. • Publication of the ESGPHM Newsletter August/September to all ESGPHM members updating them on the latest Study Group news. • Excellent contribution to ECCMID 2022 with submission of six proposals for inclusion in the scientific programme and 5 being accepted including “Genomic surveillance as a tool for monitoring and responding to vaccine escape pathogens” and “The past, the present and the future of pandemics: preparedness and first defence” • Creation of the online resource/publication “FAQs for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines” published on the ESCMID website. • Publication of the article “How to interpret and use COVID-19 sero- logy and immunology tests” Ong D et al. Clin Microb Infect 2021 • Ongoing Guidelines Project “Influenza Management and treat- ment” co-organized by ESGREV/ESGIE • Completed Guidelines Project “ESCMID COVID-19 Guidelines: Diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2” (accepted for publication in Clinical Microbiology and Infection) Figure legend: Technical workshop “Infection Preventio”, organized by ESGNI-EUCIC, February 2020, Vienna, Austria. Figure legend: Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (gold) within endosomes of a heavily infected nasal Olfacto- ry Epithelial Cell (credit: NIAID) Figure legend: Phages on TEM; (A) phage CfP1 (Myoviridae) targeting Citrobacter freundii; (B) Phage V1SE05 (Siphoviridae) targeting S. epidermi- dis; (C) Phage PASA16 (Myoviridae) infecting a P. aeruginosa P14 strain. YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE 23 • Co-organising the online post-graduate course “Cutting edge: improving survival rates of severe skin and soft-tissue infec- tions”, May 2021 • Supporting organiser of the upcoming International Sympo- sium on Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Infections 2022 and Gordon Research Conference on Staphylococcal Disea- ses 2021, now 2023 • Participating in 2 ongoing quality control exercises – European Quality Control of Staphylococcal identification, virulence and resistance – In silico Next Generation Sequencing Quality Control of S. aureus • Co-organisation of the online post-graduate course “Transla- tion of recent advances in diagnostic methods to clinical microbiology and infectious diseases”, 3-4 June 2021 • Supporting organiser of the 15th National Viral Hepatitis Con- gress (hybrid) in Turkey with a one-hour roundtable session covering ESGVH activities and HCV vaccine • Organisation of a series of online 1-hour discussion meetings for “interesting/difficult cases” every month for ESGVH members • Publication of the article “Towards a Better and Harmonized Educa- tion in Antimicrobial Stewardship in European Veterinary Curricula” Carmen Espinosa-Gongora et al. Antibiotics 2021 • Networking collaboration between ESGVM and the European network for Optimization of Veterinary Antimicrobial Treatment (ENOVAT) for the development of European veterinary antimicrobial treatment guidelines • Establishment of an ESCMID/ECVM/EALVD joint committee to facilita te the implementation of collaborative actions between the above orga- nisations and shape the veterinary microbiology profession in Europe. • Co-organisation of the Pre-ECCMID day on Vaccines that took place on 20 April 2021 as part of the extended ECCMID 2021 programme • Organisation of a post-graduate course to take place in 2022 “Measles: towards eradication?”, September 2022 • Exceptional contribution to the ECCMID 2022 scientific pro- gramme with five accepted session proposals out of a tota eight sessions submitted. Figure legend: The scale of the problem – WHO goals for the elimi- nation of viral hepatitis as a public health concern by the year 2030 (Thomas DL. New England Journal of Medicine 2019; 380: 2041-50) Figure legend: Meeting of the European Network for Optimization of Veterinary Anti- microbial Treatment (ENOVAT) in Padua, August 26-27, 2021 Figure legend: People queuing to receive their booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine in late fall 2021YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE24 “In the second year of covid-19, EUCAST committee work remained fully digita- lised. We observed an increased interest in antimicrobial suscep- tibility testing (AST) issues and that many of our users were strongly engaged in implementing recent important changes in the EUCAST AST system” Christian Giske EUCAST Chair christian.giske@escmid.org www.eucast.org YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE 25 EUCAST provides breakpoints and antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods on a global scale. ESCMID is the administrative, financial and scientific framework for EU- CAST. ESCMID (www.escmid.org), the ESCMID Förderverein (www. escmid-fv.org) and the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC; www.ecdc.europa. eu) supported EUCAST financially in 2021. ESCMID also supports the development of the EUCAST disk diffusion method, and the EUCAST microdilution methods for fungi, veterinary pathogens and myco- bacteria. EUCAST has an agree- ment with the European Medicines Agency to develop breakpoint pro- posals for newly registered agents. EUCAST Steering Committee The Steering Committee met five times during 2021 (by videocon- ference) and dealt with many aspects of breakpoints and antimi- crobial susceptibility testing. “Visi- ting” General Committee members and European Medicines Agency (EMA) representatives and/or ECDC representatives attended se- veral meetings. In 2021, Christian Giske (Swe- den) was the Chair, John Turnidge (Australia) the Scientific Secretary, Rafael Cantón (Spain) the Clini- cal Data Coordinator, and Gunnar Kahlmeter (Sweden) the Technical Data Coordinator. Regular Steering Committee members were Alas- dair MacGowan (UK), Gerard Lina (France), Sören Gatermann (Ger- many), Christoffer Lindemann (Norway), with Joseph Meletiadis (Greece) and Shampa Das (UK) as PK/PD experts. EUCAST General Committee The annual open on-site meeting for national representatives of the General Committee, normally held during ECCMID, was not held during 2021 due to constraints imposed by the pandemic and because most participants were not physically at ECCMID. Inste- ad EUCAST invited NAC chairs and members and GC members to a series of zoom meetings on specific items (listed at https:// www.eucast.org/videos_and_on- line_seminars/online_seminars/). From April onwards the General Committee representatives of the Steering Committee were Jorge Sampaio (Brazil) and Gian Maria Rossolini (Italy). National Antimicrobial Suscepti- bility Testing (AST) Committees (NACs) Nearly all European countries have established NACs. Further efforts on recruiting the remai- ning EU/EEC member countries are ongoing. Interest in EUCAST from countries outside the Euro- pean Union continued to increa- se. Several countries are in the process of developing NACs with the European Union and beyond. NACs provide national input to all aspects of EUCAST, promote nati- onal strategies for susceptibility testing and help implement EU- CAST breakpoints and methods. Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee (AFST) 1 Jan – 31 Dec 2021 The AFST continued with their work on breakpoints and methods for antifungal agents. Due to the CO- VID-19 shut-down, AFST General Subcommittee held the annual meeting on 4 May 2021 as a tele- conference and the steering com- mittee of the AFST Subcommittee held half day online meetings on 2 March, 16 April, 12 May, 2 and 3 June, 20 July (meeting with Mund- ipharma), and 8 and 10 September 2021. The EUCAST AFST Steering com- mittee has had the following mem- bers: Steering committee Chair Maiken C Arendrup, Steering Committee (Denmark) Scientific Secretary Jesús Guinea- Ortega (Spain) Steering Committee, Jamuary 2022YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE26 Clinical Data Coordinator Joseph Meletiadis (Greece) EUCAST Steering Committee Re- presentative Gunnar Kahlmeter (Sweden) NAC representative S Arikan-Akdagli (Turkey) NAC Representative Konrad Mu- ehlethaler (Switzerland) replaced Nathalie Friberg (Finland) in the spring The following have occurred du- ring the contract period • The Itraconazole rational docu- ment v3.0 has been released. In this version, the Aspergillus and Candida rational documents have been combined into a single document and MIC distribution tables updated with more infor- mation on Candida spp. and As- pergillus spp. and new informa- tion on Trichophyton spp. • Developing and validating a modified reference method for susceptibility testing of the new agent rezafungin against Candi- da. Due to a high potency and propensity to bind to plastic an unacceptable MIC variation is observed with the standard method. • Finalising a New for agar scree- ning method for echinocandin resistant Aspergillus isolates to be integrated in the E.Def 10.1 mould procedure (now E.Def 10.2). • Reviewing and updating the Anidulafungin and Isavuconazo- le rational documents based upon new MIC distributions. • Examining different plastic plates types and brands used for broth microdilution suscep- tibility testing (potential for drug adherence) and options for mi- nimising such binding • Working on alternative MIC methods for echinocandin tes- ting of Aspergillus and of vali- dating spectrophotometer rea- ding MICs against Aspergillus • Working on an agar screening method for terbinafine testing of Trichophyton • Determination of in vitro PK/PD breakpoints for azoles and non- albicans Candida spp. Veterinary Antimicrobial Suscep- tibility Testing Subcommittee (VetCAST) 1 Jan – 31 Dec 2021 VetCAST was chaired by Peter Damborg (Denmark), and Gudrun Overesch (Switzerland) was the Scientific Secretary. Many of the activities of VetCAST are done in collaboration with a European COST Action initiative called the Euro- pean Network for Optimization of Veterinary Antimicrobial Treatment (ENOVAT). VetCAST undertook the following activities during the report period: • Conducting a survey on which breakpoints stakeholders would like VetCAST to produce • Finalizing a list of clinical break- points that need to be prioritised • Collecting MIC data for veterina- ry pathogens and using data for setting ECOFFs and tECOFFs • Collecting and producing phar- macokinetic data on a large number of agents, including do- xycycline in pigs, amoxicillin- clavulanic acid in dogs, oxyte- tracycline in cattle and procaine penicillin in horses • Bridging studies for EUCAST me- dia versus those of CLSI • Establishing QC ranges for flor- fenicol susceptibility testing • Conducting a hybrid (online and physical) training school on basic PK/PD principles Antimycobacterial Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee (AMST) 1 Jan – 31 Dec 2021 The EUCAST-AMST general commit- tee and subcommittee meetings were held digitally on 10 May, 2021. The following activities were undertaken during the year: • In February 2021 the Multicen- tre study on intra- and inter-as- say agreements for MIC-testing of isoniazid, levofloxacin and amikacin with the EUCAST refe- rence protocol was published in Clinical Microbiology and Infec- tion. • During 2021 AMST started the process of developing a network of reference laboratories (AMST Laboratory Network) for testing and evaluation of the reference protocol specific for MIC-testing of antituberculosis agents re- quiring DMSO. • In 2021 the Janssen Research & Development and the EUCAST- AMST laboratory network star- ted the first phase of a multicen- tre project (“EUCAST-Janssen calibration project”) to gene- rate MIC data to define formal QC ranges, QC targets and ECOFFs for bedaquiline, clofazimine, levofloxacin and linezolid in the EUCAST reference method. The study will be the basis to ca- librate the broth microdilution technique using dry and frozen plates from the ThermoFisher and the Becton Dickinson Bactec MGIT system (BDQ only) against the reference method. • Planning of a multicentre study for the MIC testing of delamanid (and perhaps also pretomanid) against the M. tuberculosis H37Rv reference strain in the reference method. • In December of 2021 a revision of the rationale document for delamamid is ongoing. • Ongoing preparations for the next digital general committee meeting on 17 January 2022. Subcommittee on antimicrobial susceptibility testing by whole genome sequencing (WGS) Following the successful first edi- tion of the role of WGS in suscepti- bility testing, a Subcommittee was reconvened under the leadership of Matthew Ellington (UK). An up- date nearing completion is to be published in 2022. Subcommittee on antimicrobial susceptibility testing of anaero- bes EUCAST conducted an extensive amount of development work during 2021 to develop the disk diffusion method for common rapidly-growing anaerobes. This included the following species: Bacteroides spp., Prevotella spp., Fusobacterium necrophorum, Clostridium perfringens, and Cut- ibacterium acnes. Development involved the selection of a spe- cific test medium, Fastidious An- aerobe Agar, and the validation of agar dilution MIC testing on this medium as a reference method. The anaerobe tables in the EUCAST Breakpoint Tables were extensive- ly revised. MIC and Zone diameter breakpoints for the above-named species were due for publication on January 2022. EUCAST Development Laboratory for antibacterial agents The EUCAST Development Labora- tory had another active year. There was ongoing work on several old and new agents in pre-clinical or clinical development, work on the selection of disk contents for disk diffusion and the development of zone diameter breakpoints to cor- relate with clinical MIC breakpoints and ECOFFs. Significant activities included: • Methodology and zone diameter breakpoints for common anae- robic bacteria were finalised and field tested with the help of 17 European laboratories. • MIC and zone diameter distribu- tions and clinical breakpoints and disk diffusion criteria for Vibrio spp. • Ongoing MIC and zone diameter breakpoints for Corynebacte- rium diphtheriae and ulcerans together with expert colleagues in Munich and Paris. • Ongoing MIC- and zone diameter breakpoints for Nocardia spp. YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE 27 Together with colleagues in France and Australia. • Development of MIC and zone distributions for Streptococcus viridans group together with col- leagues in France. To be made available during 2022. Develop- ment of a Pseudomonas refe- rence AST panel to be published and made available early 2022. • Developing breakpoints for ex- tended incubation of RAST – to be available early 2022. • Development of disk contents and zone diameter breakpoints for new agents. • A series of Zoom seminars. • Development of SOPs, instruc- tion videos, scientific articles, tutorial programmes. EUCAST network laboratories The work on developing the struc- ture of “EUCAST Network Labora- tories” continued in 2021. These labs have specific expertise and training in EUCAST Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) for bacteria and EUCAST Antifungal Susceptibility Testing (AFST) methods, respectively. EUCAST Network Laboratories are com- mitted to help develop, validate and troubleshoot EUCAST AST/ AFST methods and/or to help train and educate other laboratories in EUCAST methods. They also play an important role in improving methods and/or assisting clinical breakpoint development by pro- viding species-specific minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) datasets. For more information and for laboratories interested in participating, please visit The EUCAST AST Network Laboratories on the EUCAST website (www. eucast.org). Currently, 20 bacte- rial and 15 mycology laboratories have been integrated into the net- works. EUCAST breakpoints Version 12.0 of the MIC and zone diameter breakpoint tables for bac- teria and quality control (QC) ta- bles was published on the EUCAST website on 1 January 2022. Breakpoints for new agents are set by EUCAST as part of the mar- keting authorisation process by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In the past year, breakpo- ints were reviewed for cefiderocol. The breakpoints for several other new agents are in the process of being evaluated. New breakpoints, MIC and/or zone diameter, were published for mero- penem-vaborbactam. New Areas of Technical Uncertainty (ATUs) were published for cefoxitin and tedizolid. Revised breakpoints were publis- hed for cefoxitin, delafloxacin, amikacin, gentamicin, tobramycin, azithromycin, clindamycin, tedizo- lid and rifampicin. Revised ATUs were published for cefoxitin. EUCAST website The website and its contents are continuously updated. All signifi- cant changes are highlighted in the “News” section on the homepage and a list of all changes is availa- ble via the “Website changes” link below the contents list (www.eu- cast.org/website_changes/). Docu- ments updated this year included breakpoint tables, QC tables, SOPs, files listing calibration and valida- tion of disk diffusion testing vs. MIC, reading guides and method descriptions, frequently asked questions, guidance documents, intrinsic resistance and unusual phenotypes. Problems with AST procedu- res and material are published on the EUCAST “Warnings!” website (www.eucast.org/ast_of_bacteria/ warnings/). The figure below provides an overview of the unique page visits to the EUCAST website, indicating a steady increase over the years. EUCAST consultations Many of the EUCAST documents on the website were updated in 2021 and this is an ongoing pro- cess. Rationale documents, giving background data and providing the rationale for EUCAST breakpoints continue to be developed. A summary of consultations can be found on the website: http://www.eucast.org/docu- ments/consultations/ All EUCAST documents are free- ly available on the EUCAST website. 140 000 120 000 100 000 80 000 60 000 40 000 20 000 0 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Unique Pageviews for eucast.org 2018–2021 2018 2019 2020 2021 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Next >