antimicrobial susceptibility test (ast) using the eucast rapid antimicrobial sensitivity testing (rast)

Test accelerati di sensibilità antimicrobica in flaconi per emocolture

Sepsis, an important global health problem, is defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction due to a dysregulated host response to infection. The Global Burden of Diseases Study estimated that there were 48.9 million cases of sepsis and 11 million sepsis-related deaths worldwide in 2017, which accounted for almost 20% of all global deaths1. Around 2/3rd of bloodstream infections (BSI) causing mortality are due to gram-negative bacterial pathogens2. The leading causes of mortality amongst gram-negatives (GN) are Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii,&#160;which account for around 40% of cases amongst 33 bacterial pathogens2.
Blood cultures remain the gold standard for diagnosing BSI, and rapid microbial identification along with antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) results is the key to management. It has been estimated that there is a 9% increase in odds of mortality with each-hour delay in instituting appropriate antimicrobials in sepsis3. The turnaround time (TAT) of microbiologically positive blood culture reports with AST results is around 48-72 h with the available microbiological tools in resource-limited settings, even with automated systems. As a result of this subpar TAT, broad-spectrum antimicrobials are used empirically, contributing to the burgeoning problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Recognizing this dire need to reduce TAT for microbiological culture techniques for sepsis, EUCAST and CLSI are moving towards performing AST directly from positively flagged blood culture bottles (+aBC)4,5.
In 2018, EUCAST first introduced the rapid AST (RAST) method for determining AST by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method at short incubation times, i.e., 4 h, 6 h and 8 h, directly from +aBC6,7. The method is presently validated for determining AST for +aBCs containing one of the 8 most common causes of BSI namely E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, and A. baumannii complex&#160;amongst gram-negatives and Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium, and Streptococcus pneumoniae amongst gram-positives8.The breakpoints for AST determination at various time intervals are provided as per microbial species listed above. Hence, before categorical interpretation of AST results, microbial identification is necessary. However, the RAST standard does not specify the method to enable microbial identification within this time frame.
The majority of studies evaluating the EUCAST RAST method in their setting have used mass spectrometry-based microbial identification after short incubation on plated media to identify micro-organisms9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17. However, mass spectrometry instruments are not widely available, especially in low to middle-income countries (LMICs), which greatly limits the potential usefulness of this method. Few studies have reported implementation of this method in their centers without using mass spectrometry18,19,20. Tay&#351;i et al.18 reported a broad categorization of GN amongst Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas, and Acinetobacter spp. based on gram stain morphology and oxidase test before interpreting AST results. In other studies from this center, by Gupta et al.19 and Siddiqui et al.20, species-level microbial identification was done by preparing a bacterial pellet from the positively flagged blood-broth mixture and inoculating it on the conventional biochemical tests. While Tay&#351;i et al.18 did not comment upon the accuracy of microbial identification with their approach, Gupta et al.19 reported that with their approach in 165/176 (94%) cases, a RAST reportable gram-negative (RR-GN), i.e., either of E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, and A. baumannii complex. However, with the latter approach, the reading of RAST results was done retrospectively using 8 h zone diameter breakpoints only after the full incubation of conventional biochemical results i.e., 18-24 h post-inoculation, and the average time for reporting was around 2 days.
To reduce the TAT of clinical reports further, we propose an alternative methodology to enable early identification of GN present in +aBCs using aMIAST. Before the introduction of mass spectrometry-based microbial identification systems, these automated identification systems were considered the standard of care for microbial identification, where identification was enabled by colorimetric and/or fluorometric changes induced by test bacteria when inoculated in miniaturized biochemical tests harbored in a cassette and matching the results with their isolate database. The average time to identification in these systems is around 4 h to 8 h however, they are limited by the fact that the manufacturers recommend overnight growth of microbes before their respective identification cards can be inoculated. This requirement greatly limits their usefulness in reducing the time to report.
Few studies have evaluated methods to directly identify microbes from +aBCs using these automated systems21,22,23,24,25,26,27. In the case of +aBCs containing monomorphic GN, the majority of studies showed excellent concordance between direct inoculation from bacterial pellet made from positive blood-broth mixture and standard colony incubation. However, in the case of gram-positives, the concordance rates were suboptimal. As the average time to positivity of +aBCs is between 8 h and 16 h and identification of GN takes ~4 h to 8 h in an automated microbial identification system, we hypothesize that by employing direct inoculation protocol in the automated microbial identification, we can complete the clinical reporting of +aBCs with GN having a RR-GN within 24 h of sample receiving.
Setting for the study 
The present study was conducted in the clinical bacteriology laboratory of a 950-bed, academic, tertiary care institute of national importance (INI) in Central India from January to October 2023. The laboratory is equipped with a continuous blood culture monitoring system (CBCMS) and aMIAST. The bacteriology laboratory is functional round-the-clock with the availability of technicians and microbiologists for processing and reporting any positively flagged blood culture bottle (+aBCs).
Microbial methods used here 
The workflow of the study is shown in Figure 1. The +aBCs showing monomorphic GNs (+naBC) were processed by direct inoculation of corresponding identification cards to enable identification and AST using EUCAST RAST protocol. These results were compared with the standard-of-care (SoC) method for +aBCs i.e., subculturing on conventional plated media through sheep blood agar (SBA), chocolate agar (CA), and MacConkey agar (MA), incubated aerobically for 16 h to 24 h followed by identification and AST cards given by aMIAST when isolated colonies appear. Blood cultures showing gram-positive cocci, gram-positive bacilli, budding yeast cells, and &#8805;2 different micro-organisms on initial gram staining or plated media were excluded from the study.

Autore in primo piano: Accelerare l'accuratezza diagnostica con l'identificazione diretta dei Gram-negativi dai flaconi per emocolture

Identificazione microbica diretta utilizzando un sistema automatizzato di identificazione microbica per facilitare il metodo RAST EUCAST senza spettrometria di massa

Test di sensibilità antimicrobica (AST) utilizzando il test rapido di sensibilità antimicrobica (RAST) EUCAST 

Per iniziare, posizionare due piastre di agar Mueller-Hinton da 90 millimetri non inoculate in una cappa di biosicurezza. Con i guanti, pulire il setto di un flacone per emocoltura automatizzato contenente organismi gram-negativi monomorfi con alcol isopropilico al 70%. Utilizzare una siringa sterile per aspirare da 100 a 150 microlitri di miscela di brodo di sangue non diluito dal flacone dell'emocoltura.Aggiungere il campione al centro di una piastra di agar Mueller-Hinton. Ora, usa un batuffolo di cotone sterile per distribuire delicatamente il brodo sui piatti in tre direzioni. Quindi, applicare circa sei o meno dischi antimicrobici su ciascuna piastra.Trasferire le piastre in un'incubatrice aerobica a 35 gradi Celsius per otto ore. Al termine dell'inoculazione, osservare la purezza dell'isolato. Leggere le zone di inibizione entro otto ore, più o meno cinque minuti.Utilizzare la tabella dei punti di interruzione RAST per l'incubazione breve per interpretare i risultati dopo aver controllato i risultati dell'identificazione batterica nell'AMI-AST.

antimicrobial-susceptibility-test-ast-using-eucast-rapid

Research

JoVE Journal

Medicine

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test (AST) Using the EUCAST Rapid Antimicrobial Sensitivity Testing (RAST)

92 Views. Per iniziare, posizionare due piastre di agar Mueller-Hinton da 90 millimetri non inoculate in una cappa di biosicurezza. Con i guanti, pulire il setto di un flacone per emocoltura automatizzato contenente organismi gram-negativi monomorfi con alcol isopropilico al 70%. Utilizzare una siringa sterile per aspirare da 100 a 150 microlitri di miscela di brodo di sangue non diluito dal flacone dell'emocoltura.Aggiungere il campione al centro di una piastra di agar Mueller-Hinton. Ora, usa ...

Video: Test di sensibilità antimicrobica (AST) utilizzando il test rapido di sensibilità antimicrobica (RAST) EUCAST 

Direct Microbial Identification using An Automated Microbial Identification System to Facilitate the EUCAST RAST Method Without Mass Spectrometry

Gram-negative (GN) sepsis is a medical emergency where management in resource-limited settings relies on conventional microbiological culture techniques providing results in 3-4 days. Recognizing this delay in turnaround time (TAT), both EUCAST and CLSI have developed protocols for determining AST results directly from positively flagged automated blood culture bottles (+aBCs). EUCAST rapid AST (RAST) protocol was first introduced in 2018, where zone diameter breakpoints for four common etiological agents of GN sepsis, i.e., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii complex can be reported. However, those clinical laboratories that have implemented this method in their routine workflow rely on mass spectrometry-based microbial identification, which is not easily available, thus precluding its implementation in resource-limited settings. To circumvent it, we evaluated a direct inoculum protocol (DIP) using a commercial automated microbial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing system (aMIAST) to enable early microbial identification within 8 h of positive flagging of aBC. We evaluated this protocol from January to October 2023 to identify the four RAST reportable GN (RR-GN) in the positively flagged aBC. The microbial identification results in DIP were compared with the standard inoculum preparation protocol (SIP) in aMIAST. Of 204 +aBCs with monomorphic GN (+naBC), one of the 4 RR-GN was identified in 105 +naBCs by SIP (E. coli: 50, K. pneumoniae: 20, P. aeruginosa: 9 and A. baumannii complex: 26). Of these, 94% (98/105) were correctly identified by DIP whereas major error and very major error rates were 6% (7/105) and 1.7% (4/240), respectively. When DIP for microbial identification is done using the EUCAST RAST method, provisional clinical reports can be provided within 24 h of receiving the sample. This approach has the potential to significantly reduce the TAT, enabling early institution of appropriate antimicrobial therapy.

EUCAST has developed a direct antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) protocol for automated blood cultures. However, its dependence on mass spectrometry-based microbial identification can be obviated by using a direct inoculum preparation protocol in an automated microbial identification system. This approach can provide AST reports within 24 h of sample collection.

Gram-negative (GN) sepsis is a medical emergency where management in resource-limited settings relies on conventional microbiological culture techniques ...

Ricerca

Medicina

Standard Inoculum Protocol (SIP) for Bacterial Identification Using an Automated Microbial Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing System (aMIAST)

Protocollo di inoculo standard (SIP) per l'identificazione batterica utilizzando un sistema automatizzato di identificazione microbica e test di suscettibilità antimicrobica (aMIAST)

Direct Inoculum Protocol (DIP) for Bacterial Identification Using an Automated Microbial Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing System (aMIAST)

Protocollo di inoculo diretto (DIP) per l'identificazione batterica utilizzando un sistema automatizzato di identificazione microbica e test di suscettibilità antimicrobica (aMIAST)