CLSI Blog Articles

Read the latest articles about CLSI and laboratory standards in the official CLSI Blog. Browse our most recent blog articles below.

Potential New Weapon in the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance

A forgotten antibiotic has shown promise in treating antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Octapeptin, an antimicrobial drug discovered several decades ago, may be the next weapon in the war against antimicrobial resistant superbugs. Matt Cooper, director of the University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience’s Centre for Superbug Solutions, said “Octapeptins were discovered in the late 1970s but were not selected for development at the time, as there was an abundance of new antibiotics with thousands of people working in antibiotic research and development.”

CLSI Partners with Dominican Republic to Provide HIV Testing Training

CLSI has been providing training in the Dominican Republic since 2016 for 11 HIV point-of-care-testing (POCT) sites as well as the National Reference Laboratory (National Public Health Laboratory Dr. Defilio). The scope of CLSI’s work in the Dominican Republic is focused on supporting the UNAIDS Initiative 90-90-90 program...

Burning Question - When Should Clinical Microbiology Laboratories Perform Carbapenemase Detection Tests?

This article was written by Lars Westblade, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA, and was originally published in the AST News Update: Volume 3, Issue 1 Winter 2018.

How CLSI Got the QSEs

By Lucia M. Berte, MA, MT(ASCP)SBB, DLM, CQA(ASQ)CMQ/OE, Laboratories Made Better! The “Quality System Essentials (QSEs)” have been part of CLSI’s lexicon since it was still NCCLS—and now for almost 20 years—but the phrase was not invented by this organization’s volunteers. In the mid-1990s, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration started citing blood banks and transfusion services for violating the good manufacturing practice (GMP) regulation, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) began integrating these requirements into their Standards publications and accreditation assessments...

President's Message - February 2018

The first message from new CLSI President, Carl D. Mottram, welcoming the 50th Anniversary and celebrating the 2018 Excellence Award Winners.

Case Study: Direct Detection of MRSA/MSSA From Positive Blood Cultures

This article was written by April Abbott, Deaconess Health System, USA, and Jennifer Dien Bard, Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, USA, and was originally published in the AST News Update: Volume 3, Issue 1 Winter 2018.

Understanding Pharmacokinetics (PK) and Pharmacodynamics (PD)

This article was written by Patricia J. Simner, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Linda Miller, CMID Pharma Consulting, and was originally published in the AST News Update: Volume 3, Issue 1 Winter 2018.

Education Session | Epidemiological Cutoff Values (ECVs): Their Development and Use

Are you attending CLSI’s Committees Week in Dallas, Texas from January 25-30? Join us for an educational session on Saturday, January 27 from 5:00-7:00 PM Central (US) Time at the Westin Galleria Dallas. The topic is Epidemiological Cutoff Values (ECVs): Their Development and Use, and the presenters are leading experts in the field of microbiology.

CLSI Furthers Its Mission

Last month the US Food & Drug Administration launched a new website that will make it easier for prescribers to give their patients the most accurate antimicrobial treatment. They’ll base this information, in part, on the data provided in several of CLSI’s antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) standards. This new and improved way of providing breakpoint information to laboratories will help CLSI further its mission to develop clinical and laboratory practices and promote their use worldwide.

Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance

Over a dozen types of infections from bacteria in the United States are now resistant to all or nearly all known drugs. These include Clostridium difficile, which causes severe diarrhea; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and a strain of gonorrhea. Public health experts warn that left unchecked, antibiotic-resistant infections will surpass cancer as one of the world’s biggest killers, claiming 10 million deaths annually by 2050.