Carbapenem Resistance and Carbapenemase Detection in the Clinical Microbiology Lab
Antimicrobial resistance has been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as a major global public health problem. Carbapenem resistance, a type of antimicrobial resistance, has been designated an urgent threat to public health here in the United States. Of particular concern are organisms that harbor transmissible genes encoding carbapenemase enzymes. Determining if an organism produces a carbapenemase and identifying which carbapenemase is produced can help guide antibiotic therapy in patients infected with these organisms, and can also be useful epidemiologically.
This talk will discuss carbapenem resistance mediated by carbapenemase production, and will provide information on several current test methods for the detection of carbapenemases in the clinical microbiology laboratory. Activity of newer antibiotics against individual classes of carbapenemases will also be discussed.
