Aggregate report letter

Month/date/year

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria

Drug Susceptibility Testing Performance Evaluation Program

Subject: Analyses of Participant Laboratory Results for the Month/date /year Shipment

Dear Participant:

The analyses of laboratory test results reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by participant laboratories for strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis‑complex and the non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), M. marnium shipped in Month/date/ year can be found at

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/mpep/mtbds.aspx

Participant laboratories received either four M. tuberculosis complex strains only or four M. tuberculosis strains and one NTM culture. Testing results were received and analyzed from xxx of xxx (x %) laboratories participating in this shipment.

The aggregate report is prepared in a format that will allow laboratories to compare their results with results obtained by other participants for the same isolates using the same method, drug, and concentration. We encourage you to circulate this report to personnel who are involved with drug susceptibility testing, reporting, or interpretation for M. tuberculosis and NTM.

The NTM strain in this performance evaluation is intended to provide an assessment of the various methods, drugs, and interpretations that are reported by laboratories that perform drug susceptibility testing for these different strains. The test results for the NTM strain also provides information on interlaboratory agreement with different test methods and will assist with efforts to develop standard methods for NTM drug susceptibility testing. By reporting these practices and test results, CDC is neither recommending nor endorsing these testing practices. Some of the test results reported by participants may, in fact, provide inappropriate or misleading information to the clinician. A consensus report by the American Thoracic Society and the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) M24-A are referenced to provide participants with recommendations for NTM test methods and drugs that have clinical relevance.

If you have any comments or suggestions on the results in this report or have questions regarding the changes in this program, you may call me Angela Ragin at toll free at 1-888-465-6062 or 404 498-2241.

Sincerely,

Angela Ragin, PhD Project Coordinator NCPDCID/DLS Mailstop G-23, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Ph: 404 498-2241 Fx: 404 498-2215 email: aragin@cdc.gov

Sandra W. Neal, B.S., MT(ASCP), M.S., P.M.P. Project Manager NCPDCID/DLS Mailstop G-23, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Ph: 404 498-2238 Fx: 404 498-2215 email: sneal@cdc.gov

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