CLSI to Provide Standardized Testing Methods for Infrequently Encountered Bacteria
Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, formerly NCCLS) has for years provided standardized methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of common aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, including some fastidious organisms or potential agents of bioterrorism.
CLSI has released AST guidelines for less frequently encountered or fastidious bacteria, which presently lack CLSI interpretive criteria, in the document Methods for Antimicrobial Dilution and Disk Susceptibility Testing of Infrequently Isolated or Fastidious Bacteria; Proposed Guideline (M45-P).
The M45-P guideline addresses:
- organisms that may cause serious infections, such as infective endocarditis;
- infections associated with trauma and environmental contamination; and
- device-associated infections in immunocompromised or postsurgical patients, such as intravascular catheters, implanted devices, and CNS shunts
The document presents, in tabular form, the most current information for drug selection, interpretation, and quality control for the bacterial pathogens included in this guideline. Material in M45-P is not presently included in the CLSI AST documents M2-A8, Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Disk Susceptibility Tests; Approved Standard—Eighth Edition; M7-A6, Methods for Dilution Antimicrobial Susceptibility Tests for Bacteria that Grow Aerobically; Approved Standard—Sixth Edition; and M11-A6, Methods for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Anaerobic Bacteria; Approved Standard—Sixth Edition.
“We hope this new guideline will prove helpful to clinical laboratories in meeting requests for susceptibility testing of some important organisms that haven’t been included in previous CLSI/NCCLS standards,” says James Jorgensen, PhD, Chairholder of the CLSI subcommittee that authored the document.
“The working group has attempted to synthesize existing published and unpublished data into a concise set of recommendations for testing and reporting of susceptibility results on several uncommon or fastidious bacterial species.”
M45-P is available for purchase through Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, at +610.688.0100, or www.clsi.org .
Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute is a global, nonprofit organization dedicated to developing medical standards and guidelines through a consensus process that balances the perspectives of industry, government, and the healthcare professions.
