News

Many laboratorians are familiar with sulbactam, a β-lactamase inhibitor that is commercially combined with ampicillin, which was introduced in the US in 1986 to make ampicillin-sulbactam (“Unasyn”). Like many older β-lactamase inhibitors, sulbactam is itself a β-lactam, but has poor antimicrobial activity against most bacteria.

A 59-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer was admitted to a hospital for fever and suspected sepsis 12 days after chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (<1,000 neutrophils/μL in peripheral blood; normal range 2500-7000 neutrophils/μL). The patient was started empirically on cefepime, vancomycin, and anidulafungin. Two sets of blood cultures grew Candida tropicalis on day 3 post admission. Since this isolate was recovered from the blood, both species-level identification and susceptibility testing were performed. At the time of blood culture positivity, the patient did not report any visual symptoms, and dilated fundoscopy of the eyes on day 4 did not reveal any signs of ocular involvement.

Between 2018-2021, the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) reported that 0.4% (n=1,951) of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) in the United States were caused by Acinetobacter spp. Of these, 28-45% were not susceptible to carbapenem antibiotics (ie, intermediate or resistant).1 CDC’s 2019 Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report estimated that there were 8,500 carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter cases in hospitalized patients in 2017.2 Consistently, the A. calcoaceticus-A. baumannii complex (A. baumannii) is the largest cause of clinical Acinetobacter spp. infections and is most often recovered from respiratory specimens.

The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) announced today the implementation of new Country-Based Pricing for countries that meet economic criteria set forth by the World Bank. Effective immediately, this pricing structure will enable laboratories and clinicians around the world, regardless of resources, to more feasibly access CLSI’s robust library of standards documents, training and support materials, and membership.

The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) is pleased to announce its 2024 Board of Directors.

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a Power of Associations Gold Award from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) for CLSI’s successful global #MicroFree program.

A 60-year-old female with a history of colon cancer presented to the Emergency Department with acute onset of abdominal pain. She had a recent proctocolectomy (removal of rectum and part of colon). Her temperature was normal, blood pressure was 136/70, and heart rate was 149 beats per minute.

Major changes to the aminoglycoside (gentamicin, tobramycin, and amikacin) breakpoints were published in CLSI M100-Ed33.

A 45-year-old patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) received induction chemotherapy 2 weeks ago and currently has an absolute neutrophil count of <100 cells/μL. The patient had been on levofloxacin prophylaxis for his neutropenia, but developed a fever a week ago, at which point meropenem was started. All cultures and imaging were negative.

In the July 2020 issue of this News Update, cefiderocol (trade name Fetroja®, manufactured by Shionogi) was discussed to include its projected use, requirements for testing, and more. Since that time, several new developments have occurred for cefiderocol testing.