Digestive tract colonization with extended spectrum betalactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae in a surgical intensive care unit in Casablanca

Evaluation of CHROMagar KPC for rapid detection of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae

A new CHROMagar KPC medium was compared to MacConkey agar with carbapenem discs and PCR for the bla(KPC) gene for rapid detection of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. The sensitivity and specificity relative to PCR were 100% and 98.4%, respectively, for CHROMagar KPC and 92.7% and 95.9%, respectively, for MacConkey agar.

Evaluation of techniques for detection of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in stool surveillance cultures

Screening for gastrointestinal colonization with multidrug-resistant nosocomial pathogens is an important component of infection control protocols. In the New York City region, carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains, which harbor the KPC carbapenem-hydrolyzing beta-lactamase, have rapidly emerged. The potential utility of screening medium, which involved using 10-mug imipenem disks, was investigated. The method of placing a sample from a fecal surveillance culture into broth containing an imipenem disk appeared to have the greatest sensitivity for detecting KPC-producing K. pneumoniae. Gastrointestinal colonization with two other carbapenem-resistant nosocomial pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, was also detected using this method. Placing fecal surveillance specimens into broth containing an imipenem disk is an easy method for screening samples for carbapenem-resistant nosocomial pathogens.