Search

The T2Bacteria panel is a direct-from-blood assay that delivers rapid results, targeting E. coli, S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, A. baumanii, P. aeruginosa, and E. faecium (ESKAPE pathogens). In this study, T2Bacteria and T2Candida (targeting C. albicans/C. tropicalis, C. glabrata/C. krusei, and C. parapsilosis) were evaluated in parallel with blood cultures in 101 consecutive surgical patients with suspected intra-abdominal infection admitted to the intensive care unit or high dependency unit. Fifteen patients had bacteremia, with T2Bacteria correctly identifying all on-panel (n = 8) pathogens. T2Bacteria was positive in 19 additional patients, 11 of whom had supportive cultures from other normally sterile sites (newly inserted drains, perioperative cultures or blood cultures) within seven days. Six of these eleven patients (55%) received broad-spectrum antibiotics at the sampling time. T2Candida identified the two cases of blood-culture-positive candidemia and was positive in seven additional patients, three of whom were confirmed to have intra-abdominal candidiasis. Of four patients with concurrent T2Bacteria and T2Candida positivity, only one patient had positive blood cultures (candidemia), while three out of four patients had supporting microbiological evidence of a mixed infection. T2Bacteria and T2Candida were fast and accurate in diagnosing on-panel bloodstream infections, and T2Bacteria was able to detect culture-negative intra-abdominal infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The T2Candida magnetic resonance assay is a direct-from-blood pathogen detection assay that delivers a result within 3–5 h, targeting the most clinically relevant Candida species. Between February 2019 and March 2021, the study included consecutive patients aged >18 years admitted to an intensive care unit or surgical high-dependency unit due to gastrointestinal surgery or necrotizing pancreatitis and from whom diagnostic blood cultures were obtained. Blood samples were tested in parallel with T2Candida and 1,3-β-D-glucan. Of 134 evaluable patients, 13 (10%) were classified as having proven intraabdominal candidiasis (IAC) according to the EORTC/MSG criteria. Two of the thirteen patients (15%) had concurrent candidemia. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value, respectively, were 46%, 97%, 61%, and 94% for T2Candida and 85%, 83%, 36%, and 98% for 1,3-β-D-glucan. All positive T2Candida results were consistent with the culture results at the species level, except for one case of dual infection. The performance of T2Candida was comparable with that of 1,3-β-D-glucan for candidemic IAC but had a lower sensitivity for non-candidemic IAC (36% vs. 82%). In conclusion, T2Candida may be a valuable complement to 1,3-β-D-glucan in the clinical management of high-risk surgical patients because of its rapid results and ease of use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Streptococcus pneumoniae urinary antigen tests (UATs) may be interpreted using automatic readers to potentially automate sample incubation and provide standardized results reading. Here, we evaluated four UATs the BinaxNOW S. pneumoniae Antigen Card (Abbott, Chicago, IL, USA), ImmuView S. pneumoniae and Legionella (SSI Diagnostica, Hillerød, Denmark), STANDARD F S. pneumoniae Ag FIA (SD Biosensor, Gyeonggi, South Korea), and Sofia S. pneumoniae FIA (Quidel Corporation, San Diego, CA, USA) with their respective benchtop readers for their ability to detect S. pneumoniae urinary antigen. We found that these assays had a sensitivity of 76.9–86.5%, and specificity of 84.2–89.7%, with no significant difference found among the four UATs. The assays had a high level of agreement with each other, with 84.5% of samples testing consistently across all four assays. The automatically and visually read test results from the two immunochromatographic assays, BinaxNOW and ImmuView, were compared and showed excellent agreement between the two types of reading. Immunofluorescent-based assays, Sofia and STANDARD F, had significantly less time to detect compared to the two immunochromatographic assays due to having less assay setup procedures and shorter sample incubation times. In conclusion, the four UATs performed similarly in the detection of S. pneumoniae urinary antigen, and readers can bring increased flexibility to running UATs in the clinical routine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urinary antigen tests (UATs) are often used to diagnose Legionnaires' disease as they are rapid and easy to perform on readily obtainable urine samples without the need for specialized skills compared to conventional methods. Recently developed automated readers for UATs may provide objective results interpretation, especially in cases of weak result bands. Using 53 defined patient urine samples, we evaluated the performance of the BinaxNOW Legionella Antigen Card (Abbott), ImmuView S. pneumoniae and Legionella (SSI Diagnostica), STANDARD F Legionella Ag FIA (SD Biosensor), and Sofia Legionella FIA (Quidel) simultaneously with their respective automated readers. Automatic and visual interpretation of result bands were also compared for the immunochromatography-based BinaxNOW and ImmuView UATs. Overall sensitivity and specificity of Legionella UATs were 53.9–61.5% and 90.0–94.9%, respectively. All four UATs successfully detected all samples from L. pneumophila serogroup 1-positive patients, but most failed to detect samples for Legionella spp., or other serogroups. Automatic results interpretation of results was found to be mostly concordant with visual results reading. In conclusion, the performance of the four UATs were similar to each other in the detection of Legionella urinary antigen with no major difference between automated or visual results reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]