Antimicrobial resistance (AR) is one of the most important health security concerns of our time. APHL develops resources and guidance, provides training and educational support and coordinates with clinical laboratories and several public health partners to foster a seamless exchange of specimens and information to combat AR.
APHL supports public health laboratories in combatting AR by assessing capability and capacity, conducting training and liaising with clinical laboratory partners. APHL also participates in multi-organizational efforts to release guidance, develop educational materials for laboratories and sponsors forums for public health and clinical laboratories to foster a seamless exchange of specimens and information.
Council for Outbreak Response: HAI and AR Pathogens (CORHA) This group focuses on improving practices for detecting, investigating and controlling healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and AR. Beyond curating resources, the main output from CORHA is their “Principles and Practices for Outbreak Response” resource. APHL has staff and member representation on CORHA, and we were integral in supporting the development of the chapter on Laboratory Best Practices.
CSTE-CDC-APHL AR Surveillance Task Force (ARSTF) ARSTF originated as CDC’s response to CSTE’s position statement, “Recommendations for strengthening public health surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in the United States.” Its goal is to build timely and sophisticated systems adequate to support the important task of AR surveillance. APHL was a founding member and has staff and member representation on the Task Force.
APHL-ASM AR Laboratory Workgroup
This workgroup is a collaboration between public health and clinical laboratories whose goal is to identify and develop initiatives to improve the detection and reporting of AR while fostering relationships between clinical and public health laboratories.
Breakpoint Implementation Toolkit, CLSI Designed to guide performance of a verification or validation study required to update breakpoints. Also included are links to other resources that explain the rationale behind breakpoint updates, regulatory requirements for updating breakpoints and detailed instructions for performing an AST breakpoint validation or verification.
Implementation of CPO Colonization Screening, APHL-ASM Workgroup Developed for clinical laboratories or public health laboratories seeking to implement colonization screening for carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPOs).
Laboratory Best Practices for Healthcare Outbreak Response, CORHA This is the Sixth Chapter in CORHA’s Principles and Practices for Outbreak Response Reference. This chapter focuses on how laboratory partners contribute to healthcare outbreak response, providing key information to help initiate and guide investigations.
Worksheet templates to be used in conjunction with isolates ordered from the AR Isolate Bank.
AR Lab Network
Established in 2016, CDC's Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network (AR Lab Network) is comprised of 57 public health laboratories (50 states, five large cities and Puerto Rico and Guam) and seven of the public health laboratories were designated as regional laboratories to provide nationwide coverage for complex AR testing. Using conventional and advanced methods to detect and characterize AR organisms, the AR Lab Network detects changes in resistance and helps identify outbreaks of antimicrobial diseases. It also includes the National Tuberculosis Molecular Surveillance Center located at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services which performs genotyping for all TB cases in the USAPHL supports the AR Lab Network with communications, fellowships and liaising with public health and laboratory partners.
The Public Health Laboratory Fellowship Program: an APHL-CDC Initiative prepares scientists for careers in public health laboratory science.It is open to recent graduates with a bachelor’s degree or higher and offers an AR focus area that aims to train and prepare recent graduates to apply their scientific expertise to combat AR within public health laboratories and programs. Fellows gain hands-on experience in testing, surveillance and data analysis, contributing to efforts that strengthen the nation’s capacity to detect and respond to resistant pathogens. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
APHL supports informatics efforts to enhance data exchange across the AR Lab Network by delivering technical assistance to implement national AR reporting from regional, state and local public health laboratories to federal programs.
State, territory and large city public health laboratories that are supported by funding by the AR Lab Network will have access to the funded FedEx account. This account may be used for shipping and includes the shipping of isolates, samples and supplies between clinical laboratories, non-regional laboratories, regional laboratories and CDC.
The purpose of this community is to increase collaboration, knowledge sharing and improved troubleshooting on AR topics. Ask questions. Share your expertise. Interact with your peers. Give advice. Share resources and best practices. Be sure to contact your community manager(s) if you have any questions/concerns.
The AR Lab Network Think Tank is a curated collection of resources designed to foster idea-sharing and collaboration across the network. It brings together a diverse assortment of tools and resources developed by a small group of public health laboratories to strengthen communication with their clinical and laboratory partners.
Beyond the Public Health Laboratory
Training Resources for Healthcare Faciltities
Brought to you by the Association of Public Health Laboratories and the Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network (AR Lab Network) these learning resources were created to assist staff at health care facilities understand the role of colonization screening for carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPOs) and Candida auris.
Continuing education credit is not available for these learning resources. If you are based in the US and need credit for course completion or are interested in courses offering CEU please proceed to the APHL Learning Center.
By Nikki Marchan, senior specialist, Infectious Diseases, APHL This is part of a series about topics presented during APHL ID Lab Con 2025, a forum to discuss the latest developments on the detection and characterization of infectious diseases of...
Visit the APHL Training Hub to search our training materials, access courses through the APHL Learning Center, and find upcoming webinars via the Event Calendar.
