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Diagnostics
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Advancements in Bacterial Pathogen Diagnostic Tools
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Advancements in Bacterial Pathogen Diagnostic Tools

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, another global threat was lurking. A 2019 joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations, and the World Organization for Animal Health declared that antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections could cause 10 million deaths each year by 2050. This year, an article in The Lancet determined that approximately 1.2 million deaths were attributable to bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019.

While a major priority is the discovery of new antibiotics and alternative antimicrobials, accurate, affordable, and accessible diagnostic tools must not be overlooked. Such tools may be of critical importance in low- to middle-income countries (LMIC) where the burden of mortality from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is projected to be the highest, including respiratory and bloodstream infections. Advances in the rapid diagnosis and identification of bacterial infections can help ensure the appropriate use of antibiotics.

The aim of this Special Issue is to publish high-quality research on advances in bacterial diagnostic techniques with a special interest in rapid techniques with improved speed, sensitivity, specificity, and scalability. Original research articles, including short communications, case reports, and reviews summarizing the latest techniques or advancements are welcome.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antimicrobial resistance
  • diagnostic tools
  • rapid testing
  • low- and middle-income countries (LMIC)

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

7 pages, 579 KiB  
Communication
Diagnostic Accuracy of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for Group B Streptococcus Detection in Recto-Vaginal Swab: Comparison with Polymerase Chain Reaction Test and Conventional Culture
by Ji-Hee Sung, Hyun-Hwa Cha, Nan-Young Lee, Won-Ki Lee, Yeseul Choi, Hyung-Soo Han, Yoo-Young Lee, Gun-Oh Chong and Won-Joon Seong
Diagnostics 2022, 12(7), 1569; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12071569 - 28 Jun 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1769
Abstract
A rapid method for obtaining group B streptococcus (GBS) screening results has been required in the obstetric field. We aimed to determine the diagnostic performance of the Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) assay is acceptable compared to the existing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. [...] Read more.
A rapid method for obtaining group B streptococcus (GBS) screening results has been required in the obstetric field. We aimed to determine the diagnostic performance of the Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) assay is acceptable compared to the existing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. The study involved 527 pregnant women aged 19 to 44 years. Rectovaginal swabs were collected between 35 and 37 weeks of gestation or prior to impending preterm births or term labor without GBS screening. We presented the diagnostic performance of the LAMP assay with a 95% confidence interval (CI) compared to the PCR and microbiological culture. In total, 115 (21.8%), 115 (21.8%) and 23 (4.4%) patients showed positive results using the LAMP, PCR assay and microbiological culture method, respectively. The LAMP assay showed 100% sensitivity (95% CI, 96.8–100.0), 100% specificity (95% CI, 99.1–100.0) and 100% diagnostic accuracy (95% CI, 99.3–100.0) with the reference being the PCR assay. Meanwhile, the LAMP assay showed 87.0% sensitivity (95% CI, 71.0–100.0), 81.2% specificity (95% CI, 77.6–84.7), and 81.4% diagnostic accuracy (95% CI, 78.0–84.8) with the microbiological culture as a reference. This study presented the LAMP assay as an acceptable method for GBS screening with a similar performance to the existing PCR method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Bacterial Pathogen Diagnostic Tools)
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14 pages, 1430 KiB  
Article
Diagnosis of Human Leptospirosis: Comparison of Microscopic Agglutination Test with Recombinant LigA/B Antigen-Based In-House IgM Dot ELISA Dipstick Test and Latex Agglutination Test Using Bayesian Latent Class Model and MAT as Gold Standard
by Sujit Kumar Behera, Thankappan Sabarinath, Balasubramanian Ganesh, Prasanta Kumar K. Mishra, Roshan Niloofa, Kuppusamy Senthilkumar, Med Ram Verma, Abhishek Hota, Shanmugam Chandrasekar, Yosef Deneke, Ashok Kumar, Muruganandam Nagarajan, Deepanker Das, Sasmita Khatua, Radhakrishna Sahu and Syed Atif Ali
Diagnostics 2022, 12(6), 1455; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12061455 - 13 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 6388
Abstract
Leptospirosis is a spirochaetal infection that possesses a broad host range affecting almost all mammals. In the present study, the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was compared with recombinant LigA/B antigen-based point-of-care diagnostics such as the in-house IgM dot ELISA dipstick test (IgM- DEDT) [...] Read more.
Leptospirosis is a spirochaetal infection that possesses a broad host range affecting almost all mammals. In the present study, the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was compared with recombinant LigA/B antigen-based point-of-care diagnostics such as the in-house IgM dot ELISA dipstick test (IgM- DEDT) and the latex agglutination test (LAT) for the serodiagnosis of human leptospirosis. The comparison of the MAT with these two point–of-care diagnostics was performed using the MAT as the gold standard test and using Bayesian latent class modelling (BLCM), which considers all diagnostic tests as imperfect. The N-terminal conserved region of the LigA/B protein spanning the first to fifth big tandem repeat domains (rLigA/BCon1-5) was employed as a serodiagnostic marker in both of the bedside assays. A total of 340 serum samples collected from humans involved in high risk occupations were screened using the MAT, IgM DEDT and LAT. During the early phase of leptospirosis, BLCM analysis showed that the IgM DEDT and LAT had similar sensitivities (99.6 (96.0–100)) and (99.5 (95.2–100)), respectively, while the single acute phase MAT had the lowest sensitivity (83.3 (72.8–91.3)). Both the IgM DEDT and the LAT may be superior to the single acute phase MAT in terms of sensitivity during the early phase of infection and may be suitable for the early diagnosis of leptospirosis. However, BLCM analysis revealed that the use of both acute and convalescent samples substantially increased the sensitivity of the final MAT (98.2% (93.0–99.8%)) as a test to diagnose human leptospirosis. Both the IgM DEDT and LAT can be employed as bedside spot tests in remote locations where the MAT is not easily accessible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Bacterial Pathogen Diagnostic Tools)
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17 pages, 298 KiB  
Article
Multicentric Evaluation of SeeGene Allplex Real-Time PCR Assays Targeting 28 Bacterial, Microsporidal and Parasitic Nucleic Acid Sequences in Human Stool Samples
by Felix Weinreich, Andreas Hahn, Kirsten Alexandra Eberhardt, Simone Kann, Thomas Köller, Philipp Warnke, Susann Dupke, Denise Dekker, Jürgen May, Hagen Frickmann and Ulrike Loderstädt
Diagnostics 2022, 12(4), 1007; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12041007 - 16 Apr 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2743
Abstract
Prior to the implementation of new diagnostic techniques, a thorough evaluation is mandatory in order to ensure diagnostic reliability. If positive samples are scarcely available, however, such evaluations can be difficult to perform. Here, we evaluated four SeeGene Allplex real-time PCR assays amplifying [...] Read more.
Prior to the implementation of new diagnostic techniques, a thorough evaluation is mandatory in order to ensure diagnostic reliability. If positive samples are scarcely available, however, such evaluations can be difficult to perform. Here, we evaluated four SeeGene Allplex real-time PCR assays amplifying a total of 28 bacteria, microsporidal and parasitic nucleic acid sequence targets in human stool samples in a multicentric approach. In the assessments with strongly positive samples, sensitivity values ranging between 13% and 100% were recorded for bacteria, between 0% and 100% for protozoa and between 7% and 100% for helminths and microsporidia; for the weakly positive samples, the recorded sensitivity values for bacteria ranged from 0% to 100%; for protozoa, from 0% to 40%; and for helminths and microsporidia, from 0% to 53%. For bacteria, the recorded specificity was in the range between 87% and 100%, while a specificity of 100% was recorded for all assessed PCRs targeting parasites and microsporidia. The intra- and inter-assay variations were generally low. Specifically for some helminth species, the sensitivity could be drastically increased by applying manual nucleic acid extraction instead of the manufacturer-recommended automatic procedure, while such effects were less obvious for the bacteria and protozoa. In summary, the testing with the chosen positive control samples showed varying degrees of discordance between the evaluated Allplex assays and the applied in-house reference assays associated with higher cycle threshold values in the Allplex assays, suggesting that samples with very low pathogen densities might be missed. As the targeted species can occur as harmless colonizers in the gut of individuals in high-endemicity settings as well, future studies should aim at assessing the clinical relevance of the latter hint. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Bacterial Pathogen Diagnostic Tools)
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