0000000000639808
AUTHOR
Miriam Torrecillas
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…
Evaluation of a mass spectrometry and Vitek 2 combined protocol for rapid identification and susceptibility testing of Enterobacterales directly from positive blood cultures.
Abstract Objective The aim was to evaluate a rapid method which would combine identification and susceptibility testing directly from positive blood cultures for Gram-negative bacilli of the Enterobacterales. Material and methods Gram-negative rods from blood cultures were directly identified by MALDI-TOF. Samples with Enterobacterales were selected for direct antimicrobial susceptibility testing by Vitek 2. The results were compared to those obtained with our laboratory's standard method. Results MALDI-TOF directly from blood cultures identified correctly 83% of the samples. Enterobacterales (n = 68) were identified at gender and species level in 85% of blood cultures with a score >1.7. In…