Antimicrobial susceptibility and genomic profiling of from bloodstream infections at a tertiary referral hospital in Lusaka, Zambia, 2018-2019.

Objectives: This study investigated antimicrobial susceptibility and genomic profiling of isolated from bloodstream infections at a tertiary referral hospital in Lusaka, Zambia, 2018-2019.

Method: This was a prospective hospital-based study involving routine blood culture samples submitted to the microbiology laboratory at the University Teaching Hospital. Identification of and determination of antimicrobial susceptibility profiles was achieved through conventional and automated methods.

The accuracy of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase detection in and in South African laboratories using the Vitek 2 Gram-negative susceptibility card AST-N255.

Background: Phenotypic detection of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) is based on the inhibition of ESBL enzymes by β-lactamase inhibitors and on the comparison of cephalosporin activity with or without a β-lactamase inhibitor. Many South African diagnostic laboratories rely on the Vitek 2 for automated susceptibility testing and for ESBL detection. However, the Gram-negative susceptibility card currently used locally (AST-N255) has been modified and its accuracy for ESBL detection is not known.