Microbe Magazine Podcast

• How can the clinical laboratory detect carbapenemases, which are enzyme that can make bacteria resistant to some of the most potent or broad-spectrum antibiotics available? • What is the clinical significance of detecting such an enzyme? Does it affect the care of the patient? • Finally, what practical advice can we give to help labs decide which of the many available tests is the best one for them? The antibiotics we discuss are the “carbapenems,” such as imipenem and meropenem. These are among the broadest spectrum antibiotics available. Bacteria that are resistant to carbapenems were identified as “urgent threats” by the CDC in 2019. Some bacteria produce enzymes which destroy these antibiotics, and these enzymes are called “carbapenemases.” By producing a carbapenemase, bacteria become resistant to these antibiotics, making carbapenems useless for treatment of infections caused by such bacteria. I am joined by an expert guest to discuss detection of carbapenemases, Dr. Patricia Simner. Dr. Simner is an

Discussing new guidelines on the use of vancomycin for severe Staphylocccus aureus infections. The August issue of AAC includes interesting papers about mechanism of resistance to metronidazole in C. difficile, a variant of KPC resistant to ceftazidime-avibactam and description of a new “ultra-broad spectrum B-lactamase inhibitor” among others! You can find the issue at https://aac.asm.org.

The state of the art treatment of COVID-19, understand the role of some medications currently used for COVID-19 and dissecting novel approaches and strategies for the treatment of COVID-19 likely to become available in the short term. Guests: Henry Masur MD and Adarsh Bhimraj MD. Read the current issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy at https://aac.asm.org

A conversation with Lou Rice about his career and his experience of being the Editor of Chief for the AAC Journal for the past decade.  Visit aac.asm.org to read the current issue.

A discussion about laboratory testing for COVID-19 with two experts, Dr. Melissa Miller and Dr. Elitza Theel. Hosted by Journal of Clinical Microbiology Editor in Chief, Dr. Alexander McAdam. Get the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology at https://jcm.asm.org/

Objectives: • Discuss the therapeutic options currently being used for COVID-19 • Evaluate some clinical data supporting the use of these drugs • Comment on clinical trials and enrollment Participants: • Andre Kalil, Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NB, USA. Lead Investigator, NIH Clinical Trial for COVId-19 • Miguel A. Martinez, Editor AAC. Professor, AIDS Research Institute-IrsiCaixa, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain. Visit https://aac.asm.org/ to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript.