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Comparative evaluation of new and old methods for the diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia
FIS 98 Abstracts SPEED OF ACTION OF ANTISEPTICS IN THE PRESENCE OF ORGANIC SOIL S.A.W. Gibson, L. Johnston, J. Prince and L. Cam, Reckitt and Colman Pharmaceuticals, Hull, UK, HU8 7DS. In the emerging crisis with antibiotic resistance, antiseptics and disinfectants, if used properly, remain major weapons in infection control. Recent evidence has shown that the use of suitable biocides can reduce the spread of pathogenic organisms, actually prevent transmission of disease and, within the application of an infection control strategy, can reduce absenteeism, doctor visits and antibiotic prescribing. Despite this, antiseptics and disinfectants have a reputation for slow action and poor activity in the presence of hard water, protein, blood and other organic materials. This contributes to a hesitate-to-use attitude in Hospitals, community health care facilities. This paper examines the activity of antiseptics in the presence of hard water and organic materials, such as yeast extract, blood, serum and soap. Results showed that, in distilled water, the products performed well against the organisms tested There were, however, some differences between the products in terms of their activities in the presence of the organic materials. Chloroxylenol showed fastest activity against most of the organisms. Soap and protein rich soils had a significant inhibitory effect on chlorhexidineicetrimide mix
IMPACT OF GUIDELINES FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF URINARY TRACT INFECTION USING RAPID REAGENT STRIPS. B.I.F. Batchelor’. D.W.M. Crook’, J. Anderson* and LC.J.W.i. Department of Microbiology, Oxford Public Health Laboratory, Oxford’, The Health Centre, Fane Drive, Berinsfield, Oxfordshire2. Objective: We wished to assessthe impact of guidelines for the management of patients with symptoms of urinary tract infection (UTI) using rapid reagent strips Method and Results: Guidelines were drawn up jointly by clinicians and microbiologists. They were disseminated to General Practitioners (GPs) by the microbiologists and reinforced via a Health Authority newsletter. Mean (SD) quarterly laboratory usage by GPs for urine culture in the 12 months mior to dissemination was 13,338 (* 220) compared to 11,449 (* 3 15) in the following 12 months, a drop of 14.2% (95% CI 10.6 - 17.7% p
COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF NEW AND OLD METHODS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF PNEUMOCOCCAL PNEUMONIA. J. Wheeler’,‘, R. Freeman’, M. Steward’, K. Henderson’ and M.J.S. Lee’. Public Health Laboratory’ and Novocastra Laboratories Ltd’, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
BIOASSAY FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF THE IN VITRO EFFICACY OF NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM AGAINST GARDNERELLA VAGINALIS. M. Law and JF. Porter. Microbiology Services Department, Core Technologies Ltd. 3 Riverside Way, Riverside Business Park, Irvine, Scotland.
Streptococcuspneumoniae is the commonest aetiological agent of community-acquired pneumonia in all age groups. However, diagnosis continues to be problematic. Culture is often compromised by prior antibiotic therapy and current non-cultural methods, based on the detection of the type-specific capsular polysaccharide (CPS) by either countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis (CIE) or particle agglutination, suffer from lack of sensitivity and/or specificity. We have recently developed two alternative non-cultural techniques for the diagnosis of pneumococcal infection; detection of the species-specific 53kDa protein, pnemnolysin, by Western blot analysis (SPN-blot) and a single-cycle PCR targeted at the pneumolysin gene. In this study, these new techniques were compared with culture and CPS-CIE on 65 purulent or mucopurulent sputa from patients with clinical respiratory infection. Our results show that Western blot detection of pneumolysin is almost as sensitive as PCR in both S. pneumoniae culture-positive and culture-negative sputa and both methods are considerably more sensitive than CPS-CIE.
The bioassay was used to compare the efficacy of a novel hydrogel Vaginal Delivery System (HyCoreVTM) containing either 50mg or 200mg of metronidazole under aerobic and anaerobic incubation conditions. A metronidazole HyCoreVTM was added to Proteose Peptone Broth (PPB) and incubated at 35-38°C for 24h. The spent HyCoreVTM was then replaced with a fresh metronidazole HyCoreVTM and the PPB re-incubated. Samples were removed after 24 and 48 hours, inoculated with 105CFU G. vaginalis and spread onto the surface of Casmans Medium containing 5% sheep blood (CaSM). Under aerobic conditions the 50mg and 200mg HyCoreVrM significantly reduced the number of G. vagina/is by >99% in 48 hours. Under anaerobic conditions no G. vaginalis was recovered after 48 hours with both the 50mg and 200mg formulations. The results demonstrate that both dosage strengths of metronidazole HyCoreVTM are efficacious in vitro against G. vaginalis. The bioassay system may therefore be used to assess the efficacy of antimicrobial formulations and should prove to be a useful tool for the in vitro assessment of specific treatment regimens prior to clinical trials.
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IMPACT OF GUIDELINES FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF URINARY TRACT INFECTION USING RAPID REAGENT STRIPS. B.I.F. Batchelor’. D.W.M. Crook’, J. Anderson* and LC.J.W.i. Department of Microbiology, Oxford Public Health Laboratory, Oxford’, The Health Centre, Fane Drive, Berinsfield, Oxfordshire2. Objective: We wished to assessthe impact of guidelines for the management of patients with symptoms of urinary tract infection (UTI) using rapid reagent strips Method and Results: Guidelines were drawn up jointly by clinicians and microbiologists. They were disseminated to General Practitioners (GPs) by the microbiologists and reinforced via a Health Authority newsletter. Mean (SD) quarterly laboratory usage by GPs for urine culture in the 12 months mior to dissemination was 13,338 (* 220) compared to 11,449 (* 3 15) in the following 12 months, a drop of 14.2% (95% CI 10.6 - 17.7% p
COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF NEW AND OLD METHODS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF PNEUMOCOCCAL PNEUMONIA. J. Wheeler’,‘, R. Freeman’, M. Steward’, K. Henderson’ and M.J.S. Lee’. Public Health Laboratory’ and Novocastra Laboratories Ltd’, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
BIOASSAY FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF THE IN VITRO EFFICACY OF NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM AGAINST GARDNERELLA VAGINALIS. M. Law and JF. Porter. Microbiology Services Department, Core Technologies Ltd. 3 Riverside Way, Riverside Business Park, Irvine, Scotland.
Streptococcuspneumoniae is the commonest aetiological agent of community-acquired pneumonia in all age groups. However, diagnosis continues to be problematic. Culture is often compromised by prior antibiotic therapy and current non-cultural methods, based on the detection of the type-specific capsular polysaccharide (CPS) by either countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis (CIE) or particle agglutination, suffer from lack of sensitivity and/or specificity. We have recently developed two alternative non-cultural techniques for the diagnosis of pneumococcal infection; detection of the species-specific 53kDa protein, pnemnolysin, by Western blot analysis (SPN-blot) and a single-cycle PCR targeted at the pneumolysin gene. In this study, these new techniques were compared with culture and CPS-CIE on 65 purulent or mucopurulent sputa from patients with clinical respiratory infection. Our results show that Western blot detection of pneumolysin is almost as sensitive as PCR in both S. pneumoniae culture-positive and culture-negative sputa and both methods are considerably more sensitive than CPS-CIE.
The bioassay was used to compare the efficacy of a novel hydrogel Vaginal Delivery System (HyCoreVTM) containing either 50mg or 200mg of metronidazole under aerobic and anaerobic incubation conditions. A metronidazole HyCoreVTM was added to Proteose Peptone Broth (PPB) and incubated at 35-38°C for 24h. The spent HyCoreVTM was then replaced with a fresh metronidazole HyCoreVTM and the PPB re-incubated. Samples were removed after 24 and 48 hours, inoculated with 105CFU G. vaginalis and spread onto the surface of Casmans Medium containing 5% sheep blood (CaSM). Under aerobic conditions the 50mg and 200mg HyCoreVrM significantly reduced the number of G. vagina/is by >99% in 48 hours. Under anaerobic conditions no G. vaginalis was recovered after 48 hours with both the 50mg and 200mg formulations. The results demonstrate that both dosage strengths of metronidazole HyCoreVTM are efficacious in vitro against G. vaginalis. The bioassay system may therefore be used to assess the efficacy of antimicrobial formulations and should prove to be a useful tool for the in vitro assessment of specific treatment regimens prior to clinical trials.
A21