The ultra-rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test FASTinov® flow cytometry kit was directly evaluated on positive blood cultures (BC) at two sites: i) FASTinov® in Porto (Portugal) using spiked BC with well-characterized bacteria and ii) Ramon y Cajal University hospital in Madrid (Spain) using patients positive BC. Two kits were evaluated, FAST
gramneg
(
Enterobacterales
,
Pseudomonas
,
Acinetobacter
) and FAST
grampos
(
Staphylococcus
, Enterococcus
). A dedicated software for cytometric data analysis and interpretative reporting, both using CLSI and EUCAST criteria, were used. The FAST
gramneg
kit also provides information about the presence of resistant mechanisms, including ESBLs and carbapenemases. After 1-h incubation at 37°C bacteria were analysed by CytoFLEX® cytometer (Beckman, CA). Disk diffusion was performed as reference susceptibility method. Overall, 447 positive BC were included, 100 from hospitalized patients. Categorical agreement for FAST
gramneg
panel was 96.8% for EUCAST and 96.4% for CLSI. For FAST
grampos
panel it was 98.6% when using both criteria. Using EUCAST criteria the percentage of errors for FAST
gramneg
panel was 2.1% minor errors (mE), 1.3% major errors (ME) and 0.6% very major errors (VME). Concerning CLSI, 2.9% mE, 0.9% ME and 0.4% VME were found. VMEs were mainly observed with amoxicillin-clavulanate, cefotaxime, ceftazidime and gentamicin. FAST
grampos
panel showed 0.3% mE, 1.4% ME and 0.4% VME using EUCAST criteria (VME regarded gentamicin and
Staphylococcus
) while 0.4% mE, 1.4% ME and no VME when using CLSI criteria. FASTinov® flow cytometry kits represent a rapid alternative for direct antimicrobial susceptibility testing from positive BC, showing time-to-results <2-h, which can be used to personalized antibiotics and stewardship practices.
Integration of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Drug Susceptibility Testing and Genotyping with Epidemiological Data Analysis To Gain Insight into the Epidemiology of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Malatya, Turkey