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UKHSA Priority Pathogens Reference Organisms

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published a Priority Pathogens Reference Tool which is intended to help guide research and development in the UK. It provides information on pathogen families where the UKHSA believes further research would be most beneficial to boost preparedness against infectious disease around diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.

                                                     TEM image of NCPV 1409231v MERS Coronavirus

 

UKHSA Culture Collections are the repositories for authenticated biological reference material including eukaryotic cell lines and bacterial, viral and fungal strains. In tandem with the publication of the UKHSA Priority Pathogens Reference Tool, UKHSA Culture Collections have collated information on the relevant pathogenic bacteria and viruses which are available from its repositories listed below:

Table 1: Viral strains available from the National Collection of Pathogenic Viruses (NCPV)

Notable Pathogen

Disease

Materials Available (Including Catalogue Identifiers)

Human adenovirus (B, C, E, F)

Adenovirus infection

Over 30 different strains of human adenovirus available (grown in ECACC cell line 85120602 or 86012804)

Lassa virus

Lassa fever

Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities

Norovirus

Norovirus infection

RMNOROG1 - Norovirus Genogroup I (LENTICULE® disc)

RMNOROG2 - Norovirus Genogroup II (LENTICULE® disc)

MERS-CoV

MERS

1409231v - MERS-CoV strain "England 1" (Grown in ECACC cell line 08011101)

Ebola virus

Ebola virus disease

Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities

Sudan virus

Sudan virus disease

Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities

Marburg virus

Marburg virus disease

Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities

Dengue virus

Dengue

10 distinct strains covering all four Dengue virus serogrups.

(Grown in ECACC cell line 85020206 or 84113001)

Zika virus

Zika

1308258v - Zika virus strain "MP1751"

1604131v - Zika virus strain "PRVABC59"

1609021v - Zika virus strain "PHE_semen_Guadeloupe"

(Grown in  ECACC cell line  84113001)

Hepatitis C virus

Hepatitis C

Currently unavailable

Hantaan virus

Haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS)

0006112v - Hantaan virus strain 76/118

(Grown in ECACC cells 85020206)

CCHF virus

Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever

Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities

Non-seasonal influenza

Flu

10 distinct strains of influenza A, one strain of influenza B 

(Grown in ECACC 84121903, 05071502 or allantoic fluid)

Nipah virus

Nipah virus infection

Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities

Oropouche virus

Oropouche fever

1409261v - Oropouche virus 

1811021v - Oropouche virus strain "OROV/EC/Esmeraldas/087/2016"

(Grown in  ECACC cell line  84113001)

Rift Valley fever virus

Rift Valley fever

1202191v - Rift Valley fever virus strain "h85/09" 

0310122v - Rift Valley fever virus

(Grown in  ECACC cell line  84113001)

SFTS virus

Severe fever with thrombo-cytopenia virus syndrome

Currently unavailable

Enterovirus D68, A71

Acute flaccid myelitis

2210112v - Enterovirus D-68 (Grown in ECACC cell line 85111502)

0812214/5/7/8v Enterovirus 71

(Grown in ECACC cell line 85111502)

Human metapneuomovirus

hMPV infection

Deposit is being accessioned

Monkeypox virus (clade I)

Mpox

2206091v Clade IIb 2022 (Grown in ECACC 85020206)

2301231v Irradiated Clade IIb 2022 (Hazard group 2)

Clade I is being accessioned

Chikungunya virus

Chikungunya

17051701v - Chikungunya virus strain "Guatemala/RIPL/8485" 

0811301v - Chikungunya virus strain "D5523/06"

0704221v - Chikungunya virus

(Grown in ECACC cell line 84113001)

 

Table 2: Bacterial strains available from the National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC)

Bacterial family

Notable pathogen

Disease

Materials Available (Including Catalogue Identifiers)

Bacillaceae

Bacillus anthracis

Anthrax

7 distinct strains of Bacillus anthracis

Entreobacteriaceae

Klebsiella pneumoniae

Pneumonia, bloodstream and wound infections

148 distinct strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, including numerous antimicrobial resistant strains

Escherichia coli (ETEC, STEC, EPEC)

Gastro-intestinal disease, HUS

STEC

  NCTC 12079 Escherichia coli

  NCTC 12080 Escherichia coli

ETEC

   NCTC 11601 Escherichia coli

   NCTC 11602 Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli (UPEC)

Cystitis, Pyelonephritis

NCTC 13441 Escherichia coli

390 additional distinct strains of Escherichia coli

Yersinia pestis

Plague

12 distinct strains of Yersinia pestis

Francisellacae

Francisella tularensis

Tularaemia

NCTC 10857 Francisella tularensis subsp. holartica

Moraxellaceae

Acinetobacter baumannii

Pneumonia, bloodstream infections, UTI

27 distinct strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, including numerous antimicrobial resistant strains

Neisseriaceae

Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Gonorrhoea

49 distinct strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, including numerous antimicrobial resistant strains and the 2024 WHO Neisseria gonorrhoeae reference strain panel

Staphylococcaceae

Staphylococcus aureus

Cellulitis, Endocarditis, Pneumonia

NCTC 13636 Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

NCTC 14245 Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300 lineage

208 other distinct strains of Staphylococcus aureus

Streptococcaceae

Group A Strep

Pharyngitis, Impetigo, Scarlet fever, Septicaemia

NCTC 14935 Streptococcus pyogenes M1UK lineage

NCTC 14936 Streptococcus pyogenes M1global lineage

101 other distinct strains of Streptococcus pyogenes

Group B Strep

Chorioamnionitis, Pneumonia, Meningitis, Septicaemia

77 distinct strains of Streptococcus agalactiae

Streptococcus pneumoniae

Pneumonia, Meningitis

NCTC 14143 Streptococcus pnuemoniae (multi-drug resistant)

NCTC 14078 Streptococcus pneumoniae (highly characterised model organism)

42 other distinct Streptococcus pneumoniae strains from diverse serotype that are both represented and not represented in pneumococcal vaccines

The biological materials listed above are a small sub-selection of the biological materials available from UKHSA Culture Collections. The full catalogue can be searched here.

Whole genome sequence data are available for many NCTC bacterial strains. The details can be found in Dicks J, et al. NCTC3000: a century of bacterial strain collecting leads to a rich genomic data resource. Microb Genom. 2023 May;9(5):mgen000976.

UKHSA Culture Collections staff are subject matter experts and can be contacted with any enquiry regarding the curated biological materials described here.

 

References

 

June 2025