Bacteriuria and phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing in 45 min by point-of-care Sysmex PA-100 System: first clinical evaluation.

Purpose: This study compared the results of the new Sysmex PA-100 AST System, a point-of-care analyser, with routine microbiology for the detection of urinary tract infections (UTI) and performance of antimicrobial susceptibility tests (AST) directly from urine.

Methods: Native urine samples from 278 female patients with suspected uncomplicated UTI were tested in the Sysmex PA-100 and with reference methods of routine microbiology: urine culture for bacteriuria and disc diffusion for AST.

Results: The analyser delivered bacteriuria results in 15 min and AST results within 45 min.

In Vitro Effect of Three-Antibiotic Combinations plus Potential Antibiofilm Agents against Biofilm-Producing and Clinical Isolates.

Patients with chronic pulmonary diseases infected by complex (MAC) often develop complications and suffer from treatment failure due to biofilm formation. There is a lack of correlation between in vitro susceptibility tests and the treatment of clinical isolates producing biofilm. We performed susceptibility tests of 10 different three-drug combinations, including two recommended in the guidelines, in biofilm forms of eight MAC clinical isolates.

Activity of Antibiotics and Potential Antibiofilm Agents against Biofilm-Producing - Complex Causing Chronic Pulmonary Infections.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) cause lung infections in patients with underlying pulmonary diseases (PD). The - complex (MAC) is the most frequently involved NTM. The MAC-PD treatment is based on the administration of several antibiotics for long periods of time.

Multicentre study on the reproducibility of MALDI-TOF MS for nontuberculous mycobacteria identification.

The ability of MALDI-TOF for the identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) has improved recently thanks to updated databases and optimized protein extraction procedures. Few multicentre studies on the reproducibility of MALDI-TOF have been performed so far, none on mycobacteria. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of MALDI-TOF for the identification of NTM in 15 laboratories in 9 European countries.

Inducible and Acquired Clarithromycin Resistance in the Mycobacterium abscessus Complex.

Purpose: Clarithromycin was considered the cornerstone for the treatment of Mycobacterium abscessus complex infections. Genetic resistance mechanisms have been described and many experts propose amikacin as an alternative. Nevertheless, clarithromycin has several advantages; therefore, it is necessary to identify the non-functional erm(41) allele to determine the most suitable treatment.