Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Accurate differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), together with early detection of drug resistance, is essential for guiding therapy and infection control. Targeted next-generation sequencing assays, such as the Deeplex Myc-TB (GenoScreen, Lille, France), allow simultaneous identification of species and detection of drug-resistance mutations. We evaluated Deeplex Myc-TB on 304 primary, culture-positive mycobacterial growth indicator tube...

Legionella species are important causes of community-acquired pneumonia. The diagnostic performance and clinical implications of a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based real-time PCR assay targeting the Legionella 5S rRNA gene were evaluated, with emphasis on melting temperature (Tm) analysis to differentiate detected species and associated clinical outcomes. A retrospective multicenter cohort study of adults with laboratory-confirmed Legionella infection between 2019 and 2025 was...

Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) is a progressive and potentially fatal lung disease occurring in patients with underlying structural lung damage. Its diagnosis remains challenging because clinical and radiological features are often nonspecific and overlap with pre-existing respiratory conditions. Detection of anti-Aspergillus IgG antibodies is a cornerstone of diagnosis, as microscopy and culture have limited sensitivity. Several serological assays are available, including enzyme-linked...

The increasing prevalence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) requires reliable diagnostic tools. This study evaluated the performance of the VITEK2 Advanced Expert System, a software interpretation program combined with VITEK2 AST results, for CPE detection, and the ability of BIOART expert rules to identify carbapenemase types. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using VITEK2 (N436 + XN28 cards) and disk diffusion on a collection of 244 isolates representative of...

In 2021, the Los Angeles County (LAC) Department of Public Health suspected a leptospirosis outbreak in LAC affecting over 200 client-owned dogs. We aimed to characterize the outbreak and describe microbiologic findings, risk factors, diagnostic test performance, and outcomes in dogs diagnosed with leptospirosis at two specialty practices. Leptospira culture isolates from four cases were subjected to serotyping and whole-genome sequencing (WGS); WGS was also performed on one enriched genome...

Gram-negative bacteria cause potentially life-threatening bloodstream infections worldwide. Delayed initiation of optimal antimicrobial therapy worsens health outcomes. Molecular assays characterize bloodstream pathogens and their antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes faster than gold-standard culture-based methods. This multi-site study evaluated the performance of the automated multiplex LIAISON PLEX Gram-Negative Blood Culture (BCN) Assay (Luminex Corporation), which tests positive blood...

The Corynebacterium (C.) diphtheriae species complex (CdSC) comprises the closely related pathogenic species C. diphtheriae, C. belfantii, C. rouxii, C. ulcerans, C. silvaticum, C. ramonii, and C. pseudotuberculosis according to the taxonomic revisions after 2018. Due to their close relationship, reliable species identification within the CdSC is also challenging using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) for fast and reliable identification of bacteria. This is relevant for human and veterinary...

Point-of-care, immunochromatographic tests have not reliably detected the rabies virus and have not utilized a consistent diagnostic protocol. International diagnostic standards established by the World Organization for Animal Health require strategic and large-scale validation studies prior to widespread use. The United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Rabies Reference Laboratory, undertook a large-scale validation of the BioNote Anigen Rapid Rabies Antigen Test...

Metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL)-producing Enterobacterales are a global public health concern. Infections caused by these pathogens are often hard to treat, with few effective agents currently available. While aztreonam-avibactam only recently gained U.S. and European regulatory approval, laboratories have implemented laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) using existing aztreonam and ceftazidime-avibactam reagents. We sought to compare the performance of four phenotypic methods, up to three reagent...

Echinocandin minimal effective concentration (MEC) determination for Aspergillus is challenging with the EUCAST method. We investigated the applicability of a lower inoculum (10³ CFU/mL) and a colorimetric assay for micafungin and anidulafungin against Aspergillus fumigatus with the EUCAST E.Def 9.4 protocol. Eighteen shared A. fumigatus isolates (12 wild-type [WT] and 6 non-WT isolates) together with five local A. fumigatus isolates were tested (blinded to the phenotype) in three laboratories...

Annual hospital antibiograms, cumulative reports of antimicrobial susceptibility data from clinical isolates, are widely used to guide empiric antibiotic therapy, monitor resistance trends, and support antimicrobial stewardship. Most hospital antibiograms are compiled annually from clinical bacterial isolates, using the first isolate per patient and species. Although antibiograms have long proven their value, some now question whether traditional versions still meet modern clinical needs, given...

Rapid and accurate identification of gram-positive bacteria that cause bloodstream infections using molecular assays drives antibiotic optimization and patient management. This multisite study evaluated the performance of LIAISON PLEX Gram-Positive Blood Culture (BCP) Assay, a qualitative multiplexed diagnostic molecular test that detects and differentiates 13 gram-positive bacterial targets and 4 antibiotic resistance markers (AMRs) from blood culture bottles showing gram-positive bacterial...

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In the article published by K. L. Shier, G. Gonzales, D. A. G. Perez, J. R. Bao, et al. (J Clin Microbiol 64:e00484-25, 2026, https://www.doi.org/10.1128/jcm.00484-25), the authors evaluated the performance of the Vitek 2 (bioMérieux), Sensititre (Thermo Fisher), and Etest (bioMérieux) Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) methods compared to reference broth microdilution for 46 reference Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) isolates. This study reports on several of the most widely used...