Enterobacteriaceae spp. are one of the most important causes of nosocomial and community-acquired infections. Strong selection pressure exerted by antimicrobial use, especially with newer-generation ß-lactam antibiotics, has led to the proliferation of bacteria carrying enzyme able to hydrolyze and inactivate them.
The research of the presence of resistant bacteria from a swab is a practice widely used in diagnostic microbiology laboratory in order to quickly identify and isolate patients with serious infections induced by aggressive pathogens.
The two main ß-lactamases present in Enterobacteriaceae spp. are the ESBLs and AmpCs.
The new Alifax ESBL/AmpC screening kit provides report of ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae spp presence/absence from 1 hour to 6 h 30 min thus supporting the active surveillance of MDRO.

FROM SAMPLING TO ESBL/AmpC SCREENING WITH LIGHT SCATTERING TECHNOLOGY

1. The PENOK SWAB and HB&L ESBL/AmpC SCREENING KIT are conceived for the collection and the rapid detection of ESBL/ AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae spp. from rectal swab samples
2. PENOK SWAB is the new patent-pending device for the collection of samples with a specific hollow cotton swab.
3. A simple squeeze of the tube allows to carefully aspirate the selective media for the ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae spp.
4. The flow of the aspired media through the swab favors the spread of bacteria in nutrient broth.
5. PENOK SWAB can be loaded directly into Alfred60AST and Sidecar systems to perform the analysis within 6h 30min in fully automation.
6. Using the patented technology based on light scattering Alifax systems are able to monitor the bacteria replication activity from the inoculum step into selective culture broth providing real time growth curves.
7. Results are reported as negative or positive with an estimation of the count in CFU/ml.
8. Broths are in sterile vials with pierceable screw cap.
9. Samples are incubated at 37°C and constantly mixed avoiding sedimentation, flotation and growth anomalies typical of several micro-organisms.
10. HB&L ESBL/AmpC SCREENING KIT is suitable for PENOK SWAB or with traditional swabs
11. The bacterial suspension obtained at the end of the analysis is sufficiently enriched to perform further biochemical, phenotypic or genotypic confirmation tests.