Can carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae susceptibility results obtained from surveillance cultures predict the susceptibility of a clinical CRE? New research published in the American Journal of Infection Control says maybe.
Researchers analyzed the susceptibility profile of a colonizing CRE to forecast its susceptibility when recovered from a clinical specimen. Ultimately, the researchers observed an overall agreement of 88.7 percent for the combinations of 11 antibiotics with 53 pairs of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae.
That said, there were also considerable errors observed for aminoglycoside agents and colistin, meaning the predictability of the susceptibility profile for these clinical isolates is limited.
"We recommend caution when prior surveillance results are used to guide therapy," the authors concluded.
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