Chelsea Leung¹, Mohammed Al Bawarshy¹, Harsha Samarasekara¹, Catherine Janto¹, Michael Findlay¹

¹Department of Microbiology, Nepean Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Objectives: Carbapenemase-producing organism is a significant challenge in hospital setting. It limits treatment options, causes outbreaks and increases mortality rate. Rapid diagnosis is required for optimum treatment and infection control strategies. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the NG-Test Carba 5 (NG Biotech) lateral flow immunoassay for rapid detecting carbapenemase production (KPC-, NDM-, VIM-, IMP-type and OXA-48-like) in common clinical bacterial isolates. 

Methods: Twenty-four routine clinical isolates processed at Nepean microbiology with known antimicrobial patterns, mCIM, and GeneXpert Xpress Carba-R (Cephid) result were used for the validation study.

Results: All isolates (95.8%) exhibited matching phenotypic mCIM results except for a single OXA-48 detected isolate, which mCIM was negative. Seven isolates, including 1 ESBL and 6 susceptible isolates, tested negative on mCIM and Carba 5. No cross reactions were observed on Carba 5. Carba 5 successfully detected isolates harbouring KPC, NDM, VIM, IMP-type, and OXA-48-like carbapenemase and were verified with Xpert.

Discussion: Carba5 is a quick turnaround and reliable test for the detection of carbapenemases. It facilitates efficient treatment decisions as well as rapid infection control responses.

Reference: 

1. NG-Test CARBA 5 Instruction of Use, NG Biotech, Ref: ENO035CAR / Rev: 220125 / EN

Statement of Originality: 

The laboratory work was performed by Nepean Microbiology team and Microbiology Staff Specialist. Original research idea was from Dr Michael Findlay.