TY - JOUR AU - Lengerova, Gergana AU - Kalchev , Yordan AU - Rachkovska, Zoya AU - Raycheva , Ralitsa AU - Petrov, Michael AU - Murdjeva, Marianna PY - 2022/03/10 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Application of Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization for Quick Identification of Microorganisms from Positive Blood Cultures JF - Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences JA - Open Access Maced J Med Sci VL - 10 IS - A SE - Microbiology DO - 10.3889/oamjms.2022.8551 UR - https://oamjms.eu/index.php/mjms/article/view/8551 SP - 650-655 AB - <div><p class="Pa6"><strong><span lang="EN-US">AIM: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic potential of the fluorescent <em>in situ </em>hybridization (FISH) method for quick identification of microorganisms from positive blood cultures.</span></p></div><div><p class="Pa6"><strong><span lang="EN-US">MATERIALS AND METHODS: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">QuickFISH BC is a multicolor, qualitative nucleic acid hybridization assay using specific fluorescent-labeled probes for identification of Gram-positive bacteria (<em>S. aureus, </em>Coagulase-negative <em>Staphylococcus spp</em>. – CoNS<em>, E. faecalis, </em>and <em>E. faecium</em>); Gram-negative bacteria (<em>E. coli, P. aeruginosa, </em>and <em>K. pneumoniaе</em>), and fungi (<em>C. albicans, C. tropicalis</em>, and <em>C. glabrata). </em>This method applied to 72 positive blood cultures obtained from patients admitted at the University Hospital St. George – Plovdiv. A preliminary selection based on Gram staining was performed before the application of the FISH test. All microorganisms were subject to identification by routine biochemical tests, semi-automated and automated systems as well. Statistical data processing included descriptive statistics, nonparametric analysis for testing hypotheses by SPSS v. 22.0, and Microsoft Excel software. p &lt; 0.05 was considered statistically significant.</span></p></div><div><p class="Pa6"><strong><span lang="EN-US">RESULTS: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">FISH detected microorganisms in 63 (87.5%) positive blood cultures, whereas no fluorescent signal was observed in 9 (12.5%). The latter was because not all the microorganisms we identified are included in the test spectrum, for example – <em>Enterobacter spp. </em>and <em>Acinetobacter spp. </em>By FISH, we found <em>S. aureus </em>in 10 (15.9%) cases, CoNS in 20 (31.6%), <em>E. faecalis </em>in 4 (6.4%), and <em>E. faecium </em>in 4 (6.4%). <em>E. coli </em>(n = 7; 11.1%) was the leading cause of bacteremia among Gram-negative bacteria, whereas <em>C. albicans </em>predominated (n = 4; 6.4%) among fungi.</span></p></div><div><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>QuickFISH BC is a rapid and accurate screening method for the identification of some of the most frequent pathogens causing bacteremia. This enables the initiation of the early and adequate antimicrobial therapy. The lack of pathogen identification from positive blood cultures using this method implies the need to continue identification with other tests.</div> ER -