Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are an increasing public health concern, particularly as carbapenemase-producing isolates, such as NDM and OXA-48-like producers, become more prevalent. Rapid and accurate identification of carbapenemases is crucial to guide appropriate antibiotic therapy. Although recent epidemiologic data show that CRE increasingly harbor multiple carbapenemases, the performance of common phenotypic tests-the modified carbapenem inactivation method (mCIM) and...

Microscopic detection of Plasmodium spp. using thin and thick blood smears remains the gold standard for diagnosing malaria, but its performance is highly dependent on stain quality and microscopist expertise. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies have enhanced laboratory performance in malaria diagnosis. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of miLab MAL (Noul, Inc., Republic of Korea), an AI-assisted microscopy system designed to detect Plasmodium species using thin...

Aztreonam-avibactam (AZA) is a recently approved agent active against metallo-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales. However, independent evaluations of commercially available antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) products remain limited. We evaluated 56 carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales isolates using four newly available AZA AST products, including two gradient diffusion tests (bioMérieux Etest; Liofilchem MIC Test Strip) and two disk diffusion tests (Hardy, Liofilchem) across three...

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Pediatric skeletal system infections are medical emergencies that may cause severe acute complications and long-term orthopedic disabilities. Because the clinical presentation of septic arthritis and osteomyelitis may mimic non-infectious conditions, early identification of the causative agent and determination of its antibiotic susceptibility profile are cornerstones of patient management. The etiology of childhood skeletal system infections has changed over time, reflecting the implementation...

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Sepsis prediction algorithms based on machine learning are increasingly embedded in electronic health record systems, and clinical laboratories have been largely absent from their development, validation, and governance. This is a consequential gap. Laboratory variables are central inputs to most deployed sepsis artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and routine analytical events such as platform transitions, reagent reformulations, and reference interval updates can shift the distributions of...

The description of new taxa and nomenclature updates to currently known taxa from aquatic animal species continues at a rapid pace. After a review of the literature from 2024 to 2025, bacteria in major morphologic categories were compiled. As previously noted, bacteria characterized as oxidase-positive Gram-negative bacilli predominated. Additions included new taxa in common families associated with aquatic environments like Aeromonadaceae, Flavobacteriaceae, and Pseudomonadaceae, as well as...

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Our objective was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Aspergillus droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) for diagnosing invasive aspergillosis (IA), and to compare its performance with quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) in patients with hematologic malignancies. We conducted a prospective single-center study, including adults admitted to leukemia and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant units who underwent bronchoscopy...

Candidozyma auris (formerly Candida auris), first described in 2009, has spread to 82 countries across 6 continents, with more than 84,000 cumulative colonization and infection cases reported through December 2025. Whole-genome sequencing has resolved the species into six deeply divergent clades (I-VI) that differ geographically and in antifungal susceptibility. This minireview synthesizes peer-reviewed literature and public health surveillance data on whole-genome-sequencing-confirmed clade...

The optimal phage susceptibility testing (PST) method is unclear. Here, two PST methods were compared using Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates recovered from patients with cystic fibrosis enrolled in a placebo-controlled clinical trial of a single intravenous dose of a four-phage cocktail (WRAIR-PAM-CF1). In total, 508 P. aeruginosa sputum isolates were evaluated, including isolates collected before or after phage or placebo treatment, isolates from the same trial participants over time, and...