ABSTRACT
Colistin and polymyxin B remain part of the last line of antibiotics for multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, such as carbapenem-resistant
Enterobacteriaceae
. Current joint EUCAST-CLSI recommendations are for broth microdilution (BMD) to be performed for MIC testing of colistin. Commercial susceptibility testing methods were evaluated and compared against the reference BMD, using a susceptibility breakpoint of ≤2 mg/liter for both colistin and polymyxin B. Seventy-six
Enterobacteriaceae
were included, of which 21 were
mcr-1
positive (18
Escherichia coli
isolates, 2
Klebsiella pneumoniae
isolates, and 1
Enterobacter aerogenes
isolate). Rates of essential agreement (EA) of colistin test results between BMD and Vitek 2, Sensititre, and Etest were 93.4%, 89.5%, and 75.0%, respectively. Rates of EA of polymyxin B test results between BMD and Vitek 2, Sensititre, and Etest were 96.1%, 96.1%, and 48.7%, respectively. A positive MIC correlation with a categorical agreement of >90% was achieved for Sensititre (colistin Spearman's ρ = 0.863, and polymyxin B Spearman's ρ = 0.877) and Vitek 2 (polymyxin B [only] Spearman's ρ = 0.8917). Although a positive MIC correlation (Spearman's ρ = 0.873) with the reference method was achieved for colistin testing with Vitek 2, categorical agreement was <90%, with very major error rates of 36%. Correlation with the Etest MIC was lower, with very major error rates of 12% (colistin) and 26.1% (polymyxin B). MicroScan (colistin) categorical agreement was 88.2%, with a very major error rate of 4%. Colistin MICs for 15 of the 21
mcr-1
-positive isolates were >2 mg/liter, and polymyxin MICs for 17 of them were >2 mg/liter by broth microdilution. The use of a lower breakpoint of ≤1 mg/liter further improves detection of
mcr-1
for all testing methods. However, further data on the correlation between MICs and clinical outcome are required to determine the most suitable breakpoint to guide clinical management.
Comparison of Polymyxin B, Tigecycline, Cefepime, and Meropenem MICs for KPC-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae by Broth Microdilution, Vitek 2, and Etest
