Multicenter assessment of the rapid Unyvero Blood Culture molecular assay

Bloodstream infections remain an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Rapid diagnosis can reduce the time from empiric antimicrobial therapy to targeted therapy and improve patient outcomes.

The fully automated Unyvero Blood Culture (BCU) Application (Curetis GmbH) can identify a broad panel of pathogens (36 analytes covering over 50 pathogens) and 16 antibiotic resistance gene markers simultaneously in about 5 h. The assay was evaluated in three clinical laboratories in comparison to routine microbiological procedures.

A total of 207 blood cultures were included in the study, and 90.5 % of the species identified by culture were covered by the Unyvero BCU panel with an overall sensitivity of 96.8 % and specificity of 99.8 %. The time to result was reduced on average by about 34 h. The assay accurately identified 95 % of the species, including 158/164 monomicrobial and 7/9 polymicrobial cultures. The Unyvero BCU Cartridge detected a large number of resistance markers including mecA (n=57), aac(6')aph(2'') (n=40), one vanB resistance gene, and six instances of blaCTX-M.

The Unyvero BCU Application provided fast, reliable results, while significantly improving turnaround time in blood culture diagnostics.