scholarly journals Comparison of gentamicin MICs by agar dilution and Etest for clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 2599-2604
Author(s):  
Ranmini Kularatne ◽  
Tendesayi Kufa ◽  
Lindy Gumede ◽  
Venessa Maseko

Abstract Background In South Africa, Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) is the predominant cause of male urethritis syndrome (MUS). The national MUS treatment guidelines recommend gentamicin as salvage therapy for ceftriaxone treatment failures. We ascertained and compared gentamicin MICs obtained by agar dilution and Etest for clinical isolates of NG. Methods Gentamicin MICs for NG culture isolates obtained from 272 MUS cases in 2017 were determined using agar dilution, as per CLSI agar dilution methods, and Etest® (bioMérieux, Marcy-l’Étoile, France). Previously published interpretive criteria were used: MIC ≤4 mg/L, susceptible (S); MIC 8–16 mg/L, intermediately resistant (IR); and MIC ≥32 mg/L, resistant (R). WHO 2008 NG reference strains were used as comparison standards. Results Gentamicin agar dilution versus Etest MIC results (mg/L) were as follows: MIC50 = 16 versus 4; MIC90 = 16 versus 8; minimum MIC = 4 versus 1; and maximum MIC = 32 versus 16. Interpretive categories for agar dilution versus Etest were as follows: S, 4.4% versus 86.8%; IR, 86.0% versus 13.4%; and R, 9.6% versus 0%. The gentamicin MIC50 by agar dilution was significantly higher than by Etest (sign test P value <0.001); overall MIC agreement was 7.4% [kappa statistic (κ) = −0.014 (95% CI −0.039 to 0.010)]. Correlation with expected MICs for WHO reference strains was consistently better with Etest than with agar dilution. Conclusions There was a significant discordance between NG gentamicin MICs by agar dilution versus Etest. NG gentamicin AST methodology must be standardized and interpretive criteria established to optimize the monitoring of susceptibility trends.

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary N. McAuliffe ◽  
Marian Smith ◽  
Gavin Cooper ◽  
Rose F. Forster ◽  
Sally A. Roberts

ABSTRACT Azithromycin is a component of empirical treatment regimens for Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections, but antimicrobial susceptibility testing for this agent is technically challenging. We compared the intertest variability, MIC values, and CLSI/EUCAST categorization of clinical and reference isolates of N. gonorrhoeae treated with azithromycin by testing 107 clinical isolates and nine reference isolates by agar dilution and in duplicates using MIC test strips (Liofilchem, Italy) and Etests (bioMérieux, France). Replicate isolate agreement within 1 log2 between duplicate tests was 87% for MIC test strips and 100% for Etests (P < 0.001). Essential agreement with the agar dilution method was higher for Etests (91%) than for MIC test strips (44%, P < 0.001). The geometric mean MIC was highest for MIC test strips (0.8 mg/liter) and significantly higher than both Etest (0.47 mg/liter, P < 0.001) and agar dilution (0.26 mg/liter, P < 0.001) methods. Etest MICs were higher than those obtained with agar dilution (P < 0.001). Agar dilution, MIC test strip, and Etest methods categorized 96%, 85%, and 95% (P = 0.003) of clinical isolates, respectively, as susceptible/wild type according to CLSI/EUCAST criteria. Our results illustrate the difficulties underlying azithromycin susceptibility testing for N. gonorrhoeae and demonstrate that results can vary using different methods. This variability could influence antimicrobial resistance reporting between laboratories involved in N. gonorrhoeae surveillance programs.


Author(s):  
Paula Salmerón ◽  
Belén Viñado ◽  
Maider Arando ◽  
Eva Alcoceba ◽  
Beatriz Romero ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Gonococcal infection is one of the most reported sexually transmitted infections and antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) is challenging for the treatment of this infection. This observational study aimed to describe antimicrobial resistance of NG and epidemiological data from patients with gonococcal infection in eight regions of Spain, for updating the local therapeutic guidelines. Methods MICs of penicillin, cefixime, ceftriaxone, azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, fosfomycin and gentamicin were determined by Etest for all NG isolates recovered from 1 April 2018 to 30 September 2019 from 10 hospitals in Spain. Resistance determinants were identified using logistic regression analysis. Differences with a P value &lt;0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed for 2571 gonococci isolated from 2429 patients. 44.5% (945/2124) of patients were MSM. The resistance rate to extended-spectrum cephalosporins was low, with 0.2% (6/2561) of isolates resistant to ceftriaxone and 1.7% (44/2517) of isolates resistant to cefixime. The overall azithromycin resistance rate was 12.1% (310/2560), but differed greatly depending on the area. 56.2% (1366/2429) of the strains studied were ciprofloxacin resistant. MIC50 and MIC90 values of gentamicin and fosfomycin were 4 and 8 mg/L and 24 and 48 mg/L, respectively. Conclusions Our study shows that NG susceptibility to extended-spectrum cephalosporins remains high in Spain. The azithromycin resistance rate questions the suitability of dual therapy. This study provides data of interest for updating the national treatment guidelines and highlights the need to develop and implement a national sentinel gonococcal antimicrobial susceptibility programme.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 810
Author(s):  
Areej Y. Bayahya ◽  
Wadee Alhalabi ◽  
Sultan H. AlAmri

Smart health technology includes physical sensors, intelligent sensors, and output advice to help monitor patients’ health and adjust their behavior. Virtual reality (VR) plays an increasingly larger role to improve health outcomes, being used in a variety of medical specialties including robotic surgery, diagnosis of some difficult diseases, and virtual reality pain distraction for severe burn patients. Smart VR health technology acts as a decision support system in the diseases diagnostic test of patients as they perform real world tasks in virtual reality (e.g., navigation). In this study, a non-invasive, cognitive computerized test based on 3D virtual environments for detecting the main symptoms of dementia (memory loss, visuospatial defects, and spatial navigation) is proposed. In a recent study, the system was tested on 115 real patients of which thirty had a dementia, sixty-five were cognitively healthy, and twenty had a mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The performance of the VR system was compared with Mini-Cog test, where the latter is used to measure cognitive impaired patients in the traditional diagnosis system at the clinic. It was observed that visuospatial and memory recall scores in both clinical diagnosis and VR system of dementia patients were less than those of MCI patients, and the scores of MCI patients were less than those of the control group. Furthermore, there is a perfect agreement between the standard methods in functional evaluation and navigational ability in our system where P-value in weighted Kappa statistic= 100% and between Mini-Cog-clinical diagnosis vs. VR scores where P-value in weighted Kappa statistic= 93%.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliaksandra Aniskevich ◽  
Iryna Shimanskaya ◽  
Iryna Boiko ◽  
Tatyana Golubovskaya ◽  
Daniel Golparian ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Limited antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data for Neisseria gonorrhoeae are available in Eastern Europe. We investigated AMR in N. gonorrhoeae isolates in the Republic of Belarus from 2009 to 2019, antimicrobial treatment recommended nationally, and treatment given to patients with gonorrhoea. Methods N. gonorrhoeae isolates (n = 522) cultured in three regions of Belarus in 2009–2019 were examined. Determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of eight antimicrobials was performed using Etest. Resistance breakpoints from the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing were applied where available. A Nitrocefin test identified β-lactamase production. Gonorrhoea treatment for 1652 patients was also analysed. Statistical significance was determined by the Z-test, Fisher’s exact test, or Mann-Whitney U test with p-values of < 0.05 indicating significance. Results In total, 27.8% of the N. gonorrhoeae isolates were resistant to tetracycline, 24.7% to ciprofloxacin, 7.0% to benzylpenicillin, 2.7% to cefixime, and 0.8% to azithromycin. No isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone, spectinomycin, or gentamicin. However, 14 (2.7%) isolates had a ceftriaxone MIC of 0.125 mg/L, exactly at the resistance breakpoint (MIC > 0.125 mg/L). Only one (0.2%) isolate, from 2013, produced β-lactamase. From 2009 to 2019, the levels of resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline were relatively high and stable. Resistance to cefixime was not identified before 2013 but peaked at 22.2% in 2017. Only sporadic isolates with resistance to azithromycin were found in 2009 (n = 1), 2012 (n = 1), and 2018–2019 (n = 2). Overall, 862 (52.2%) patients received first-line treatment according to national guidelines (ceftriaxone 1 g). However, 154 (9.3%) patients received a nationally recommended alternative treatment (cefixime 400 mg or ofloxacin 400 mg), and 636 (38.5%) were given non-recommended treatment. Conclusions The gonococcal resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline was high, however, the resistance to azithromycin was low and no resistance to ceftriaxone was identified. Ceftriaxone 1 g can continuously be recommended as empiric first-line gonorrhoea therapy in Belarus. Fluoroquinolones should not be prescribed for treatment if susceptibility has not been confirmed by testing. Timely updating and high compliance with national evidence-based gonorrhoea treatment guidelines based on quality-assured AMR data are imperative. The need for continued, improved and enhanced surveillance of gonococcal AMR in Belarus is evident.


2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 3744-3749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Ameyama ◽  
Shoichi Onodera ◽  
Masahiro Takahata ◽  
Shinzaburo Minami ◽  
Nobuko Maki ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains with reduced susceptibility to cefixime (MICs, 0.25 to 0.5 μg/ml) were isolated from male urethritis patients in Tokyo, Japan, in 2000 and 2001. The resistance to cephems including cefixime and penicillin was transferred to a susceptible recipient, N. gonorrhoeae ATCC 19424, by transformation of the penicillin-binding protein 2 gene (penA) that had been amplified by PCR from a strain with reduced susceptibility to cefixime (MIC, 0.5 μg/ml). The sequences of penA in the strains with reduced susceptibilities to cefixime were different from those of other susceptible isolates and did not correspond to the reported N. gonorrhoeae penA gene sequences. Some regions in the transpeptidase-encoding domain in this penA gene were similar to those in the penA genes of Neisseria perflava (N. sicca), Neisseria cinerea, Neisseria flavescens, and Neisseria meningitidis. These results showed that a mosaic-like structure in the penA gene conferred reductions in the levels of susceptibility of N. gonorrhoeae to cephems and penicillin in a manner similar to that found for N. meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae.


2021 ◽  
Vol 156 (5) ◽  
pp. 249-250
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Calatrava-Hernández ◽  
Carla Foronda-García-Hidalgo ◽  
José Gutiérrez-Fernández

Hypertension ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lama Ghazi ◽  
Fan Li ◽  
Eric Chen ◽  
Michael Simonov ◽  
Yu Yamamoto ◽  
...  

Background: Incident severe HTN during hospitalization is far more common than admission for HTN, however treatment guidelines are lacking. Severe inpatient HTN is poorly studied, therefore our goal is to characterize inpatients who develop severe HTN and assess BP response to antihypertensive treatment. Methods: This is a cohort study of adults admitted for reasons other than HTN and developed severe HTN within a single healthcare system. We defined severe inpatient HTN as the first documentation of BP elevation (>180 systolic or >110 diastolic) at least 1 hour after hospital admission. Treatment was defined as receiving antihypertensive medications within 6 hours of BP elevation. We studied the association between treatment and BP drop ≥30%. Results: Among 224,265 hospitalized adults, 23,147 developed severe HTN of which 40% were treated. Compared to inpatients who did not develop severe HTN, those who did were older, more commonly women and Black, and had more comorbidities. Of the treated and untreated patients, 45.5 and 46.4% had a MAP drop ≥30% (p-value= 0.2). Risk factors for severe MAP drop include older age, Black race, HTN, and diabetes. Additionally, treatment vs. no treatment and treatment with intravenous vs. oral medications were associated with greater odds of MAP drop ≥30% ( Table 1 ). Conclusion: While there was no difference in the proportion of treated and untreated patients with severe MAP reduction, after adjustment for factors independently associated with HTN we found that treatment was associated with severe BP drop. Further research is needed to phenotype inpatients with severe HTN to help establish treatment guidelines.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 596-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Page E Crew ◽  
Winston E Abara ◽  
Lynda McCulley ◽  
Peter E Waldron ◽  
Robert D Kirkcaldy ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported notifiable condition in the United States. Infrequently, Neisseria gonorrhoeae can cause disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI). Eculizumab, a monoclonal antibody, inhibits terminal complement activation, which impairs the ability of the immune system to respond effectively to Neisseria infections. This series describes cases of N. gonorrhoeae infection among patients receiving eculizumab. Methods Pre- and postmarketing safety reports of N. gonorrhoeae infection in patients receiving eculizumab worldwide were obtained from US Food and Drug Administration safety databases and the medical literature, including reports from the start of pivotal clinical trials in 2004 through 31 December 2017. Included patients had at least 1 eculizumab dose within the 3 months prior to N. gonorrhoeae infection. Results Nine cases of N. gonorrhoeae infection were identified; 8 were classified as disseminated (89%). Of the disseminated cases, 8 patients required hospitalization, 7 had positive blood cultures, and 2 required vasopressor support. One patient required mechanical ventilation. Neisseria gonorrhoeae may have contributed to complications prior to death in 1 patient; however, the fatality was attributed to underlying disease per the reporter. Conclusions Patients receiving eculizumab may be at higher risk for DGI than the general population. Prescribers are encouraged to educate patients receiving eculizumab on their risk for serious gonococcal infections and perform screening for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention STD treatment guidelines or in suspected cases. If antimicrobial prophylaxis is used during eculizumab therapy, prescribers should consider trends in gonococcal antimicrobial susceptibility due to emerging resistance concerns.


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