Evaluation of Manually Prepared Colistin Agar Performance against Gram Negative Organisms of Infected Cancer Patients in Egypt

Document Type : New and original researches in the field of Microbiology.

Authors

1 Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

2 Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer patients are more vulnerable to infections because of changes affecting their immune system due to the cancer itself or the cancer treatment modalities, including surgery, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy, either alone or in combination. Objectives: The study aimed to determine the rate and the type of infections in cancer patients during the cancer treatment journey and to evaluate the performance of the agar dilution method in testing for Colistin sensitivity by comparing automated and manual testing results. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study over 6 months, including 193 patients diagnosed with hematological and non-hematological malignancies and admitted to The National Cancer Institute, Cairo University. Collected data included demographic data of enrolled patients, prescribed antibiotics, lab investigations, cancer treatment &/or surgery. Microbiological data were collected and included types of samples, cultures requested, and isolated organisms with antibiotic susceptibility testing results, especially Colistin MIC and resistance pattern. Colistin agar was prepared and used for testing isolates against Colistin using three concentrations of Colistin Sulphate (4ug/L, 2ug/L, and 1ug/L). Results: Testing for Colistin sensitivity by MIC and agar dilution method showed a statistically significant association with a P value (<0.001).Conclusion: The agar dilution can be used as a manually accepted method to test for Colistin sensitivity.

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