Nationwide surveillance of bacterial respiratory pathogens conducted by the surveillance committee of japanese society of chemotherapy, the japanese association for infectious diseases, and the japanese society for clinical microbiology in 2016: General view of the pathogens' antibacterial susceptibility.

The nationwide surveillance on antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial respiratory pathogens from the patients in Japan was conducted by the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2016. The isolates were collected from clinical specimens obtained from well-diagnosed adult patients with respiratory tract infections during the period between February 2016 and August 2016 by three societies. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted at the central reference laboratory according to the method recommended by Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute. Susceptibility testing was evaluated in 1062 strains (143 Staphylococcus aureus, 210 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 17 Streptococcus pyogenes, 248 Haemophilus influenzae, 151 Moraxella catarrhalis, 134 Klebsiella pneumoniae, and 159 Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Ratio of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was 48.3%, and those of penicillin-susceptible S. pneumoniae was 99.5%. Among H. influenzae, 14.1% of them were found to be ß-lactamase-producing ampicillin-resistant strains, and 41.1% to be ß-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin-resistant strains. Extended spectrum ß-lactamase-producing K. pneumoniae and multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa with metallo ß-lactamase were 4.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

[Evaluation of rapid diagnostic kits for the detection of group A streptococcus to Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus spp. with Lancefield's group A antigen].

We studied the basic performance of eight rapid diagnostic kits for the detection of Group A streptococcus by immunochromatography under the same conditions. Kits were the; QuickVue Dipstick Strep A (Sumitomo Seiyaku Biomedical Co., Ltd.), TESTPACK Plus STREP A (ABBOTT JAPAN Co., Ltd), CLEAVIEW STREP A (Nihon Schering K. K.), QuickVue STREP A (Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd), ImmunoCard STAT! STREP A (TFB, INC.), DIPSTICK 'Eiken' STREP A (Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd.), Rapid Testa Strep A (Daiichi Pure Chemical Co., Ltd.), and StatCheck Strep A (KAINOS Laboratories, Inc.). Four of these kits, i.e. QuickVue Dipstick Strep A, TESTPACK Plus STREP A, Rapid Testa Strep A, and StatCheck Strep A showed sensitivity at 1.0 x 10(5) CFU/mL (1.0 x 10(4)CFU/test) with all of S. pyogenes tested, while the Anginosus group and S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis with Lancefield' s group A antigen showed sensitivity very similar to S. pyogenes. Of these strains, S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis formed a beta-hemolytic colony resembling that of S. pyogenes on sheep blood agar, and was sensitive to bacitracin. It is thus indispensable to identify the colony using biochemical tests such as the PYR (pyrrolidonylarylamidase production) test. In using rapid diagnostic kits for the detection of Group A streptococcus, it is important to rule out the possibility of Group A streptococcus other than S. pyogenes in throats. Severe invasive group-G streptococcal infections are increasing recently. Concerning S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis, it is especially important to conduct these identification tests.