Evaluation of a New Automated Mono-Test for the Detection of Galactomannan: Comparison of Galactomannan Ag VirCLIA Mono-Test with Platelia Ag ELISA Assay.

The analytical performance of the new Galactomannan Ag VirCLIA mono-test (Vircell S.L.) was compared to the Platelia™ Ag ELISA assay (Bio-Rad).

Multicenter Italian Study on "In Vitro Activities" of Isavuconazole, Voriconazole, Amphotericin B, and Caspofungin for Species: Comparison between Sensititre YeastOne and MIC Test Strip.

In this study the activity of Isavuconazole, Voriconazole, Amphotericin B, and Caspofungin against 224 clinical isolates of spp. originating from seven Italian hospitals, was comparatively evaluated with two commercial antifungal susceptibility tests (AST): Sensititre YeastOne (SYO) and MIC Test Strip. More attention was focused on Isavuconazole activity, given the new introduction of the drug in widely distributed antifungal susceptibilities methods in the clinical microbiology lab.

Quantification of 1,3-β-d-glucan by Wako β-glucan assay for rapid exclusion of invasive fungal infections in critical patients: A diagnostic test accuracy study.

Objectives: Rapid and reliable exclusion of invasive fungal infections (IFI) by markers able to avoid unnecessary empirical antifungal treatment is still a critical unmet clinical need. We investigated the diagnostic performance of a newly available β-d-Glucan (BDG) quantification assay, focusing on the optimisation of the BDG cut-off values for IFI exclusion.

Methods: BDG results by Wako β-glucan assay (lower limit of detection [LLOD] = 2.

Prolongation of incubation time improves clinical diagnosis of Mycobacterium xenopi infection and allows susceptibility testing of mycobacterial strains against multiple antibiotics.

Objectives: Mycobacterium xenopi is a nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) whose clinical diagnosis and drug susceptibility studies are frequently hampered by poor in vitro growth. Extending the culture incubation time from 42 days (common-standard) to 56 days could improve the likelihood of diagnosis and provide strains for phenotypic drug susceptibility profiling of this poorly studied but clinically relevant mycobacterium.

Methods: Time-to-positivity of mycobacterial cultures incubated for 56 days were analysed and compared.

acquisition and risk of inter-species spread of -plasmid from to in the lower respiratory tract.

In recent years, has emerged as an important agent of hospital-acquired infections, such as pneumonia, urinary tract infection, septicaemia and meningitis, particularly in vulnerable patients. Compared to and , is less commonly associated with genes, yet few cases of plasmid transmission at the gastrointestinal level from carbapenemase (KPC)-producing to have been described. Here we report a case of acquisition, during a 3-month period of hospitalization in the intensive care unit, of a gene carried by a pKpQIL-IT plasmid, and its probable transmission at the bronchial level among different species of , including and .

Successful treatment with isavuconazole of subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis in a kidney transplant recipient.

Phaeohyphomycosis is a diverse group of uncommon mycotic infections caused by dematiaceous fungi which appears to be increasing in incidence, particularly in transplant recipients. Alternaria is the most frequent isolated genus. Subcutaneous, pulmonary and disseminated disease are the most common sites of Alternaria infection in solid organ transplant recipients.