White Papers

S. BRISSE, A. C. FLUIT, K. KUSTERS, M. KLOOTWIJK, S. DE VAAL, M. A. LEVERSTEIN-VAN HALL, J. VERHOEF AND D. MILATOVIC University Medical Centre Utrech, Utrech the Netherlands Contact. sbrissc@tabazunl

INTRODUCTION Reliable automated detection of antimicrobial resistance is of the utmost importance for clinical microbiology laboratories. The Phoenix™ Automated Microbiology System (BD Biosciences, Sparks, MD, USA), a new instrument combining identification and susceptibility testing, as evaluated for detection of two increasingly important antimicrobial resistance phenotypes: extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) production in gram negative organisms and ciprofloxacin resistance in non-fermenters.

L. A. COSENTINO, D. V. LANDERS AND S. L. HILLIER Magee-Womens Research Institute and The University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

OBJECTIVES

• To evaluate whether vaginal swab specimens were equivalent to cervical swabs for detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) using the strand displacement amplification assay (SDA).

Introduction Proper monitoring and control of water used to cool thermally-processed food and beverage products is essential to ensure the microbial load of this water is kept at acceptable levels. High microbial contamination in cooling water can lead to potentially dangerous food safety concerns and microbial food quality issues.

By Edan Hosking, Ph.D. of Neogen Corporation: 620 Lesher Place, Lansing, Mich. 48912 U.S. and Dustin Petrik, Ph.D. of GeneSeek: 4665 Innovation Drive, Suite 120, Lincoln, Neb. 68521, U.S.

Introduction Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are recognized as the primary cause of hemorrhagic colitis (HC) or bloody diarrhea, which can progress to the potentially fatal hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). EHEC are typified by the production of Shiga toxins (Stx). There are many serotypes of Stx-producing E. coli (STEC), but only those that have been clinically associated with HC are designated as EHEC. As a group, EHEC are a subset of STEC and comprised of pathogenic strains, of which E. coli O157:H7 is the prototypic strain.