[Selection of Laboratory Procedures to Detect Toxigenic by the 2-Step Method].

The 2-step method is an algorithm to detect toxigenic . We herein compared the sensitivities and specificities of an enzyme immunoassay (toxin A/B-EIA), toxigenic culture (TC-EIA), Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification assay (LAMP), and Xpert (Xpert) with the detection of the toxin B gene by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results obtained showed that the sensitivities and specificities of toxin A/B-EIA, Xpert, TC-EIA, and LAMP were 30 and 100%, 87.

[Evaluation of MRSA rapid detection by real-time PCR directly from positive blood cultures].

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a well-known causative multidrug-resistant pathogen responsible for nosocomial and community-acquired infections, particularly in blood stream infection, often proves difficult and expensive to treat. Despite the need for rapid, accurate MRSA detection for treatment and infection control, conventional testing including culture, have sensitivity and turn-around time (TAT) problems. We evaluated BD GeneOhm MRSA Detection Kit rapid detection performance directly from positive blood culture using real-time PCR.

[Establishment of a microbiology laboratory open 365 days a year and its impact].

The microbiology laboratory of our university hospital aims to provide accurate and rapid microbiological results and useful information for healthcare workers involved in both the treatment of infectious diseases and infection control. For this purpose, we have been running a microbiology laboratory open 365 days a year since 2005. Before starting this laboratory, we formulated both a precise procedural manual and educational program to increase the number of microbiological technologists from 4 to 8 persons and improve their skills.

[Evaluation of the MRSA rapid detection assay (BD GeneOhm MRSA detection kit) by a real-time PCR].

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is well known to be a causative pathogen of skin and soft tissue or blood stream infections, and also to be a nosocomial drug-resistant bacteria in healthcare settings. Although a rapid and accurate detection of MRSA is indispensable for infection control, the conventional tests including culture method have some problems of sensitivity, procedure time, and so on. We evaluated the performance of the rapid detection assay of MRSA (BD GeneOhm MRSA Detection Kit) directly from specimens by a real-time PCR.

[Microbiology laboratory as a base of information sending].

The goal of our microbiology laboratory is to provide an accurate microbiological result and a useful information for every healthcare workers (HCWs). For this purpose, we were trying to do several activities, such as improving the work-flow of microbiology testings, starting 365-day-open microbiology tests, providing some training courses of microbiology and sending many useful informations about infectious diseases and infection control. Before these activities, we needed another 5 microbiology technicians beside 3 technicians and had started the program to educate them.