Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Candidaemia, Invasive Aspergillosis and Antifungal Consumption in a Tertiary Hospital

In addition to the increase in fungal infections that has been observed in the last few decades, it has been reported that severe clinical COVID-19 can increase the risk of invasive fungal infections. The main objective of this study was to evaluate if there had been an increase in candidaemia and invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) cases since the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Data were retrospectively collected from April 2019 to March 2021, from patients admitted to Consorcio Hospital General Universitario de Valencia (Spain). A total of 152 candidaemia cases (56 of which were due to Candida auris) and 108 possible IPA cases were detected. A great increase in candidaemia cases was…

Evaluation of a novel chromogenic medium for Candida spp. identification and comparison with CHROMagar™ Candida for the detection of Candida auris in surveillance samples.

Abstract A shift to Candida non-albicans infections has been noted during the last years, and the emergence of multi-resistant Candida auris has complicated their management. The aim of this study was first to compare the performance of the novel chromogenic medium CHROMagar™ Candida Plus (CHROMagar, France) with CHROMagar™ Candida (Becton Dickinson, Germany) for the presumptive identification of Candida species; and then, to evaluate its utility in the detection of C. auris in surveillance samples. CHROMagar™ Candida Plus showed a good performance compared with the reference medium CHROMagar™ Candida. Sensitivity and specificity were 100% in both media for tested species at 48 h of incubat…

One-step diagnosis strategy together with multidisciplinary telematics referral perform an effective approach for identifying and treating patients with active Hepatitis C infection.

Abstract Introduction and objectives Implementation of a one-step strategy for diagnosis of active Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection would encourage the early diagnosis and reduce the time to access antiviral treatments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a HCV one-step diagnosis compared to the traditional two-step protocol in terms of the time required for patients to be seen by specialists and the time taken to start antiviral treatment. Material and methods A comparative study was carried out to assess two diagnostic algorithms (one-step and two-step) for active HCV infection. Serological markers were quantified using the same serum sample to determine both anti-HCV ant…

Análisis de resultados del Programa Externo de Control de Calidad SEIMC. Año 2007

El Programa Externo de Control de Calidad de la Sociedad Espanola de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiologia Clinica (SEIMC) incluye las areas de serologia, bacteriologia, virologia, parasitologia, micologia, microbiologia molecular y micobacterias. En este manuscrito se presenta un analisis de los resultados remitidos por los participantes en los controles de 2007. Dichos resultados confirman la buena capacitacion general de los laboratorios espanoles de microbiologia clinica de anos anteriores. Aun asi, se demuestra que es posible obtener un resultado erroneo, incluso en determinaciones de la mayor trascendencia y en cualquier laboratorio. En algunas areas o controles se detectan desviac…

Análisis de resultados del Programa de Control de Calidad Externo SEIMC. Año 2018

This article provides an analysis of the results obtained in 2018 by the participants inscribed in the External Quality Control Programme of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC), which includes controls for bacteriology, serology, mycology, parasitology, mycobacteria, virology, molecular microbiology, and genotypic bacterial resistance. The results obtained in 2018 confirm the excellent skill and good technical standards found in the vast majority of Spanish clinical microbiology laboratories, as shown in previous editions. However, the programme again shows that erroneous results can be obtained in any laboratory and even in clinically relevant deter…

Characteristics and Management of Candidaemia Episodes in an Established Candida auris Outbreak

The multi-resistant yeast Candida auris has become a global public health threat because of its ease to persist and spread in clinical environments, especially in intensive care units. One of the most severe manifestations of invasive candidiasis is candidaemia, whose epidemiology has evolved to more resistant non-albicansCandida species, such as C. auris. It is crucial to establish infection control policies in order to control an outbreak due to nosocomial pathogens, including the implementation of screening colonisation studies. We describe here our experience in managing a C. auris outbreak lasting more than two and a half years which, despite our efforts in establishing control measure…

Análisis de resultados del Programa Externo de Control de Calidad SEIMC. Año 2013

Resumen El Programa de Control de Calidad Externo de la Sociedad Espanola de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiologia Clinica incluye las areas de bacteriologia trimestral y mensual, serologia, micologia, parasitologia, micobacterias, virologia, microbiologia molecular y cargas virales del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana-1, virus de la hepatitis C y virus de la hepatitis B. En este manuscrito se presenta el analisis de los resultados remitidos por los participantes en los controles enviados durante el ano 2013, exceptuando los correspondientes a cargas virales, que se presentan en un manuscrito aparte. Los resultados obtenidos confirman de nuevo la buena capacitacion general de los lab…

Análisis de resultados del Programa Externo de Control de Calidad SEIMC de carga viral del VIH-1 y del VHC. Año 2007

Fundamentos La determinacion de la carga viral de los virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana tipo 1 (VIH-1) y de la hepatitis C (VHC) constituye una labor primordial del laboratorio de microbiologia molecular, por su valor pronostico y como guia en el tratamiento. Es crucial que el laboratorio disponga de herramientas para garantizar la fiabilidad de sus resultados. Se presentan el analisis del Programa de Control de Calidad SEIMC de carga viral de ambos virus remitido durante el ano 2007. Metodos y resultados En el control de VIH se remitieron 5 estandares, de los que uno (plasma humano seronegativo) no contenia el virus, y los otros consistian en plasma de 3 pacientes viremicos distintos en…

“Microbiología Clínica” de Guillem Prats

Septic arthritis due to Sneathia sanguinegens in a male. First case described in the scientific literature

An 88-year-old male admitted with septic shoulder arthritis due to a gram-negative bacillus. The microorganism is identified by sequencing the 16 S rDNA gene as Sneathia sanguinegens. This is the first case described in the literature in a male, since so far only infections in women of childbearing age have been described.

Análisis de resultados del Programa Externo de Control de Calidad SEIMC. Año 2008

Resumen El Programa Externo de Control de Calidad de la Sociedad Espanola de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiologia Clinica (SEIMC) incluye las areas de serologia, bacteriologia, virologia, parasitologia, micologia y micobacterias, entre otras. En este manuscrito se presenta un analisis general de los resultados remitidos por los participantes en los distintos controles del ano 2008. Los resultados obtenidos por los centros participantes confirman el buen nivel general de los laboratorios espanoles de microbiologia clinica de anos anteriores. A pesar de ello, el programa demuestra que se producen resultados erroneos, incluso en determinaciones de la mayor trascendencia y en cualquier labo…

Missing Cases of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Infection of the Central Nervous System When the Reller Criteria Are Applied for HSV PCR Testing: a Multicenter Study

ABSTRACT Previous studies suggested that herpes simplex virus (HSV) PCR testing can be safely deferred in patients with normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) white blood cell (WBC) counts and protein levels as long as they are older than 2 years of age and are not immunocompromised, the so-called Reller criteria. In this multicenter study, we retrospectively assessed the validity of these screening criteria in our setting. A total of 4,404 CSF specimens submitted for HSV PCR testing to the respective microbiology laboratories at the participating hospitals between 2012 and 2018 were included. Six commercially available HSV PCR assays were used across the participating centers. Ninety-one of the …

Evaluation of the DNA microarray “AMR Direct Flow Chip Kit” for detection of antimicrobial resistance genes from Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial isolated colonies

Abstract Introduction The AMR Direct Flow Chip assay allows the simultaneous detection of a large variety of antibiotic resistance genetic markers. To assess this kit's performance, we use isolated colonies as starting material. The assay has been approved by the European Economic Area as a suitable device for in vitro diagnosis (CE IVD) using clinical specimens. Methods A total of 210 bacterial isolates harbouring either one or more antimicrobial resistance genes including plasmid-encoded extended-spectrum β-lactamases (SHV, CTX-M) and carbapenemases (GES, SME, KPC, NMC/IMI, SIM, GIM, SPM, NDM, VIM, IMP, and OXA), mecA, vanA and vanB, and 30 controls were included. Results The assay displa…

Proteinas P35 y P60 diferenciadoras de virus herpes simplex tipos 1 y 2, identificación por anticuerpos monocionales

“The effectiveness of rapid antigen test-based for SARS-CoV-2 detection in nursing homes in Valencia, Spain”

The usefulness of the PANBIOTM COVID-19 Ag rapid test for SARS-CoV-2 infection detection has not been widely studied, especially in specific population groups such as the elderly who are institutionalized. Rapid diagnostic tests have the potential to benefit testing strategies, as they have short turnaround times, they are cheap, simple to perform and can be used in decentralized testing. The objective of this study is to show the performance of the PANBIOTM COVID-19 Ag Rapid test device conducted at geriatric institutions and to compare results to those obtained from RT-PCR. A total of 448 individuals were enrolled in the study, including both residents and employees. Nasopharyngeal swabs …

Análisis de resultados del Programa de Control de Calidad Externo SEIMC de carga viral del VIH-1, VHC y VHB. AÑO 2018

BACKGROUND Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and hepatitis B (HBV) and C virus (HCV) viral load determinations are among the most relevant markers for the follow-up of patients infected with these viruses. External quality control tools are crucial to ensure the accuracy of the results obtained by microbiology laboratories. This article summarised the results obtained from the 2017 SEIMC External Quality Control Programme for HIV-1, HCV, and HBV viral loads and HCV genotyping. METHODS AND RESULTS In the HIV-1 programme, a total of five standards were sent. One standard consisted of seronegative human plasma, while the remaining four contained plasma from three different viremic pa…

Validation and implementation of a commercial real-time PCR assay for direct detection of Candida auris from surveillance samples.

Background Rapid and reliable laboratory methods are required for detecting the nosocomial yeast Candida auris. AurisID® (Olm Diagnostics, England) is a real-time PCR assay approved for detecting C. auris in fungal cultures as well as directly from blood samples, involving a nucleic acid extraction as a prior step. Objectives The purpose of this study is to validate the AurisID® kit for direct detection of C. auris from surveillance samples without prior DNA extraction and to analyze the results of implementing this methodology to our daily laboratory routine protocol for C. auris surveillance studies. Methods Our PCR method using the AurisID® kit was compared with our routine protocol, con…

Candida auris: descripción de un brote

Resumen Candida auris es una levadura multirresistente emergente que causa infecciones invasivas graves y brotes con una alta mortalidad. El control de C . auris es un reto. Laboratorios, clinicos e instituciones sanitarias deben trabajar conjuntamente para mejorar la identificacion y el tratamiento de la infeccion, asi como el control de la transmision. Esta revision describe los aspectos generales de la biologia, diagnostico y tratamiento de C. auris, al igual que las recomendaciones publicadas recientemente por un grupo de expertos. Tambien se presenta la experiencia de un brote de C. auris en el Consorcio Hospital General Universitario de Valencia desde septiembre de 2017 hasta agosto d…

The first wave of the Spanish COVID-19 epidemic was associated with early introductions and fast spread of a dominating genetic variant

The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world since the beginning of 2020. Spain is among the European countries with the highest incidence of the disease during the first pandemic wave. We established a multidisciplinar consortium to monitor and study the evolution of the epidemic, with the aim of contributing to decision making and stopping rapid spreading across the country. We present the results for 2170 sequences from the first wave of the SARS-Cov-2 epidemic in Spain and representing 12% of diagnosed cases until 14th March. This effort allows us to document at least 500 initial introductions, between early February-March from multiple international sources. Importantly, we document the …

Artritis séptica por Sneathia sanguinegens en un varón. Primer caso descrito en la literatura científica

Resumen Varon de 88 anos que ingresa por artritis septica de hombro por un bacilo Gram negativo. Se identifica el microorganismo mediante secuenciacion del gen 16 S ADNr como Sneathia sanguinegens. Se trata del primer caso descrito en la literatura en un varon, ya que hasta el momento solo se habian descrito infecciones en mujeres en edad fertil.

Análisis de resultados del Programa de Control de Calidad Externo SEIMC. Año 2016

Resumen Se presenta el analisis anual de los resultados remitidos durante el ano 2016 por los participantes inscritos en el Programa de Control de Calidad de la Sociedad Espanola de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiologia Clinica (SEIMC), que incluye las areas de bacteriologia, serologia, micologia, parasitologia, micobacterias, virologia, microbiologia molecular y genotipos de resistencia bacteriana. Los resultados obtenidos por los centros participantes destacan, de nuevo, la adecuada capacitacion de la inmensa mayoria de los laboratorios espanoles de microbiologia clinica, como ya iba sucediendo en los ultimos anos. Sin embargo, el programa muestra que es posible obtener un resultado er…