Ability of Iranian microbiology laboratories for detection and susceptibility testing of unknown micro-organisms: survey results of 2149 laboratories

Abstract number: 1733_2

Rahbar M., Saremi M., Sabourian R., Hekmat yazdi S.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine ability of Iranian microbiology laboratories for identification and susceptibility testing of three unknown microorganisms.

Methods: In January 17th run of proficiency testing of Iranian microbiology laboratories carried out by research centre and reference laboratories of Iran. In this survey three microorganisms including Salmonella Para A, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (ATCC 13637) and Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC 7644) were submitted to 2149, 640 and 1509 laboratories respectively. All laboratories included both hospital and non-hospital microbiology laboratories. S. para A and S. maltophilia were sent to hospital microbiology laboratories and S. para A and Listeria monocytogenes were sent to non-hospital microbiology laboratories. We asked all laboratories to identify each microorganism and susceptibility testing just for S. para A against Ampicillin, Trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole, Cefotaxime, Ciprofloxacin and Chloramphenicol. Scoring of results performed according criteria recommended by WHO.

Results: Of 2149 laboratories only 1491 (70%) participated in our survey and 30% did not participated in this study. Of 1491 laboratories 513 laboratories identified S. para A correctly and obtained maximum 3 score of points and 317 (21.2%) laboratories misidentified this microorganism. Many laboratories had difficulty in identification of S. maltophilia and only 11% of laboratories were able in identification of S. maltophilia and 54% of laboratories obtained zero score of points. The Third organism, (L. monocytogenes) identified correctly by 24.6% of laboratories and obtained the maximum score and 40.6% of laboratories were not capable in detection of this organism. The other laboratories sent intermediate correctly response. The results of susceptibility testing of S. para A were relatively satisfied and many laboratories obtained maximum five score.

Conclusion: Our study reveals that unfortunately many microbiology laboratories in our country are not capable in detection of microorganism such as S. maltophilia. This problem may be due to lack of some materials and reagents for detection of such microorganism in many laboratories.