Underutilization and Quality Gaps in Blood Culture Processing in Public Hospitals of Peru.

Correct processing of blood cultures may impact individual patient management, antibiotic stewardship, and scaling up of antimicrobial resistance surveillance. To assess the quality of blood culture processing, we conducted four assessments at 16 public hospitals across different regions of Peru. We assessed the following standardized quality indicators: 1) positivity and contamination rates, 2) compliance with recommended number of bottles/sets and volume of blood sampled, 3) blood culture utilization, and 4) possible barriers for compliance with recommendations.

Microbiological and molecular characterization of antimicrobial resistance in uropathogenic Escherichia coli from peruvian public hospitals.

We characterized the antimicrobial resistance of 70 Escherichia coli isolates obtained from patients with a urinary tract infection (UTI) from 8 public hospitals in Peru. Resistance profiles were identified using the automated MicroScan® system. A standard polymerase chain reaction was used for the detection of the bla TEM, bla CTX-M, bla SHV and bla PER genes.

First Report of New Delhi Metallo-β-Lactamase Carbapenemase-Producing in Peru.

Here we report the first incidence of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM-1)-producing in Peru, identified via a strain-based nosocomial surveillance project carried out in Lima and Iquitos. The gene was detected by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and confirmed by loci sequencing. is a nearly ubiquitous and promiscuous nosocomial pathogen, and the acquisition of by may facilitate an increase in the prevalence of this important resistance marker in other nosocomial pathogens.