Microbiology

Infectious Disease

Identification and susceptibility testing

Copan WASP (Walk-Away Specimen Processors)

  • ESwabs are used on our automated Walk Away Specimen Processors (WASP). They are loaded into specially designed and coded racks.  The instrument detects the sample type and barcode readers scan patient labels and test barcodes.  Robotic “arms” plate the culture to the appropriate media and labels the plates with the patient identifiers. This reduces labeling and plating errors and standardizes streaking for isolation.
  • ESwabs make the choice easier for specimen collection. One product will recover all your aerobic, anaerobic, and fastidious bacteria in routine culture reducing the amount of calls for incorrect specimen collection.
  • With 1ml of liquid Amies as the transport media, there is an increased capability of adding on additional testing without specimen recollection.

Microscan

Susceptibility testing is available for the most current antibiotics available to treat Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms.

Copan WASP Lab

Alverno’s WASP Lab brings plate reading into the digital age!  All plates are automatically imaged when they are ready for technologist review and resulting which occurs on computer monitors.

The WASP Lab has screening segregation software which will batch no growth cultures for review and batch resulting. For those cultures most likely to be contaminated, they can be resulted in screening without ever touching the plates enabling technologists to focus on working up those cultures considered to be clinically relevant.

Urine cultures are read and reported on all 24/7, including susceptibility results, resulting in faster, actionable susceptibility reporting.

Bruker Maldi-TOF

Maldi-TOF mass spectrometry and its vast library of organisms allows for preliminary same day reporting of pathogenic organisms after 18-20 hours of incubation, eliminating the additional 18-24 hours required for biochemical identification.

Blood Culture

  • BACTEC Automated Blood Culture System for detection of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, fungi, and mycobacteria.
  • Bruker MBT Sepsityper IVD Kit is used for fast, reliable identification directly from positive blood culture utilizing Maldi-TOF.
  • BIOFIRE FILMARRAY TORCH and Cepheid GeneXpert are available for detecting resistance gene markers in positive blood cultures to guide antimicrobial therapy in these critical cultures.
  • TORCH provides enhanced identification of yeast.
  • Rapid Susceptibility Testing is performed when appropriate for these critical cultures.

Mycobacterium (Acid-Fast) culture and identification

  • Specimens are processed 24/7 with smears reported out within 24 hours.
  • Cepheid GeneXpert PCR is available to detect M. tuberculosis and possible Rifampin resistance directly from specimens with positive smears.
  • Maldi-TOF mass spectrometry and its vast library of organisms allows for preliminary reporting of pathogenic organisms upon isolation.

Fungal Culture and Identification

  • Identification of yeast and mold isolates.
  • Maldi-TOF mass spectrometry and its vast library of organisms allows for preliminary reporting of pathogenic organisms upon isolation.
  • Susceptibility testing available for Candida spp.

Ova and Parasites

  • Comprehensive examination for macroscopic and microscopic parasitic infection.
  • Antigen screening for Giardia and Cryptosporidium
  • Screening for Malaria and detection of parasitic blood infections.