How can we determine whether someone who has COVID-19 can transmit the virus to other people? Tests in routine clinical use, such as reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and antigen tests, are designed to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 is present or not, but many people have proposed that these tests be used to determine whether a patient is infectious. Furthermore, tests for SARS-CoV-2 that are not routinely used in clinical laboratories, such as viral culture and detection of sub-genomic viral RNAs, have also been discussed as indicators of infectivity. But how accurate are any of these tests for determining whether someone is infectious? Guest: Dr. Matthew Binnicker, Director of Clinical Virology and Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic. Twitter: @DrMattBinnicker Links: Can Testing Predict SARS-CoV-2 Infectivity? The Potential for Certain Methods to be a Surrogate for Replication-Competent Virus https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/JCM.00469-21 Visit https://asm.org/jcm to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Follow JCM on Twitter via https://twitter.com/JClinMicro Subscribe to ASM's YouTube channel at https://goo.gl/mOVHlK

Microbe Magazine Podcast

Testing for COVID-19 Infectivity (JCM ed.)

Enterococci, particularly vancomycin-resistant isolates tend to affect the most vulnerable and immunocompromised patients and are one of the most difficult bacteria to treat. In absence of robust clinical data, we will discuss therapeutic approaches for these recalcitrant organism.  

Treatment of VRE Infections (AAC ed.)

Tests for antibodies, or serological testing, for SARS-CoV-2 have come a long way since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are now several commercial tests available and some laboratories have developed tests for specific purposes. Tests can determine whether a person has had COVID-19 in the past, or whether someone has had an antibody response to vaccination or even whether someone has antibodies that can neutralize the virus, preventing it from infecting host cells. Guests: - Dr. Elitza Theel, Director of the Infectious Diseases Serology laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. - Dr. Alex Greninger, Assistant Director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at the University of Washington Clinical Virology Laboratory, where he is also an Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine. Visit asm.org/eic for links mentioned

Advances in Serologic Testing for COVID-19 (JCM ed.)

During the pandemic, the need to develop therapeutic approaches became critical and so the need to study them in a structured way to critically evaluate their effectiveness. Innovative strategies to conduct clinical trials under difficult circumstances were required. We will discuss these strategies with some people who created them! Objectives: • Understand the main challenges to conduct clinical trials in the middle of a pandemic both in the developed and developing world • Discuss strategies for patient recruitment and evaluation. • Deliberate on future strategies to study new therapies for emerging pathogens. Guests: • David Boulware, MD MPH. Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, University of Minnesota. • Eduardo López-Medina, MD. Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Universidad del Valle, and Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Centro Medico Imbanaco, Cali Colombia.

Innovative Clinical Trials for COVID-19 (AAC ed.)

Accurate antibiotic susceptibility testing, or AST, is a key tool in addressing the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. But AST is one of the most complicated and rapidly changing areas in the clinical microbiology, and the resulting confusion can make it difficult for clinical laboratories to keep up with best practices. Dr. Romney Humphries joins to talk about controversies and myths about AST. This episode was recorded with a live, remote audience at the World Microbe Forum. It is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, available at jcm.asm.org and on twitter @JClinMicro. Visit asm.org/eic for links.

Mythbusting in Susceptibility Testing (JCM ed.)

Malaria continues to be a major “killer’ in the developing world affecting the most vulnerable populations with more than 500,000 deaths per year. Emergence of resistance to antimalarial drugs is major public health issue. In this episode, we will discuss the latest information on this rapidly evolving field with one of the foremost experts in the field. • Review the main factors leading to malaria resistance • Discuss the main genetic mechanism of resistance to antimalarials. • Elaborate on future approaches for the prevention of resistance in Plasmodium spp. Guest: Professor Sir Nicholas White. Professor of Tropical Medicine at Oxford University and Mahidol University in Thailand. Visit https://asm.org/eic for links and https://journals.asm.org/journal/aac to read the AAC Journal

Antimalarial Drug-Resistance (AAC ed.)

In addition to Staphylococcus aureus, there are a small number of other coagulase-positive staphylococci. We have become increasingly aware of these due to improvements in identification methods used in clinical laboratories. Staphylococcus argenteus is a coagulase-positive Staphylococcus that, until now, had mainly been detected in Australia, the Pacific Islands and Thailand. It was thought that the species might be geographically restricted, however a paper in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology describes a large number of isolates collected from patients in North America. We’ll be talking to two of the authors of this paper. Guests: Dr. Julianne Kus, Dr. Audrey Schuetz

Staphylococcus argenteus: another coagulase positive Staphylococcus (JCM ed.)

The development of β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors seems to be expanding rapidly and promise to be the best short-term strategy against the most recalcitrant Gram-negative pathogens. In this podcast, we will discuss the current state of the art in this field. Objectives: • Discuss how the discovery of β-lactam/β-lactam inhibitors has evolved • Review the current state-of-the-art of developing of novel β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors • Analyze the current and future clinical applications of these drugs against major antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. Guests: Robert Bonomo, MD. Professor and Associate Chief of Staff for Academic Affairs; Director Case-VA Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Epidemiology, Case Western Research University, School of Medicine. Past Editor of AAC Pranita Tamma, MD. MH.S. Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Director, Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. Johns Hopkins University. Editor of AAC. Visit https://aac.asm.org to read more

β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations (AAC ed.)

Our options for susceptibility testing have greatly increased in recent years. In addition to classical phenotypic susceptibility testing by disk diffusion and measurement of the minimum inhibitory concentration, genotypic tests are increasingly available. Genotypic tests range from tests for a single organism and one resistance gene to tests for 20 or more organisms and multiple resistance genes. But what should the clinical microbiologist do when the results of phenotypic and genotypic are in conflict? Welcome to Editors in Conversation. This episode is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, available at jcm.asm.org and on twitter @JClinMicro. I'm JCM Editor in Chief, Alex McAdam. This podcast is supported by the American Society for Microbiology, which publishes JCM. Guests: Dr. Patricia Simner, Dr. Jennifer Dien Bard Visit https://jcm.asm.org to read more

Reconciling Genotypic and Phenotypic Susceptibility Tests (JCM ed.)

The incidence of fungal infections is rising in immunocompromised people, and the morbidity and mortality of these infections are high. Recent threats include multi-drug resistant Candida auris, however antifungal resistance is rising in other species as well, such as Aspergillus fumigatus. But have advances in diagnostic testing kept up with the accelerating threats of fungal infections? Guests: Dr. Esther Babady, Dr. Sean Zhang, Dr. Shawn Lockhart Visit https://jcm.asm.org to read more

Gaps in Laboratory Diagnosis of Fungal Diseases (JCM ed.)

During the pandemic researchers who focus on the microbiology of built environments suddenly found themselves at the center of attention. Understanding how SARS-CoV-2 may be spreading indoors became incredibly important to ensure we can operate indoors in a safe manner. We now know that SARS-CoV-2 transmits through the air in droplets and as particles, and this information has helped us to provide comprehensive advice on how people should manage the indoor environment. Last year my guests published a review in mSystems: 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Built Environment Considerations To Reduce Transmission. This is published with co-authors David A. Coil, Mark Fretz, and Jonathan A. Eisen. This paper was the most downloaded article for mSystems in 2020, and was in the top ten most downloaded articles across all ASM journals. This is maybe not surprising based on the topic covered. Guests: Leslie Dietz, Patrick Horve, Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg Links mentionoed: Microbes and social equity working group Visit msystems.asm.org to read articles and/or submit a manuscript.

Pandemic Built Environment (mSystems ed.)

Developing non-traditional antibiotics promises novel strategies to combat multidrug-resistant organisms but would they work? Are they feasible to develop? Topics discussed:   • The notion of non-traditional antibiotics as potential therapeutics against MDR organisms   • Increasing our understanding on the clinical efficacy of non-traditional antibiotics   • Regulatory pathways for approval of such compounds  Guest: Dr. John Rex, Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Editor-in-Chief, AMR.solutions Visit https://aac.asm.org to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. 

Developing Non-Traditional Antibiotics (AAC ed.)

Fermentation is a wonderful thing! Thanks to new technologies and cheaper sequencing we are now able to dig deep into the microbial friends that supply fermentation for so many wonderful foods and drinks. Topics discussed: Why cheese? Other fermented foods that can help shed light on microbial dynamics. Employing metabolomics to explore fermented food mSystems papers that focuses on fermented foods What are the gaps in understanding and what kind of technologies could help to further understanding? Pushing the frontiers of the field. Consequences of a better understanding of fermented food microbiology. Links mentioned: https://msystems.asm.org/content/5/6/e00522-20 https://msystems.asm.org/content/5/2/e00901-19 https://msystems.asm.org/content/1/5/e00052-16 https://msystems.asm.org/content/5/1/e00501-19 https://msystems.asm.org/content/4/6/e00680-19 Visit https://msystems.asm.org to read more.

Fermentative Food Microbiome (mSystems ed.)

Blood cultures for bacteria and yeast are among the most clinically important and high-volume tests performed by clinical microbiology labs. Because these cultures are so important to clinical care, we want to make sure that blood cultures are performed as quickly and accurately as possible, and that they are ordered, collected and utilized appropriately. We are going talk about two recent papers. The first is about diagnostic stewardship for improving utilization of blood cultures and the second is about reporting blood culture results more quickly. Guests: Maria Valeria Fabre, M.D., Eric Ransom, Ph.D. Some of the questions we’ll discuss include: • What steps can be taken to reduce the number of inappropriate blood cultures ordered in non-neutropenic adult patients? • Can the final results of blood cultures be reported earlier than the canonical 5 days? Links A Diagnostic Stewardship Intervention To Improve Blood Culture Use among Adult Nonneutropenic Inpatients: the DISTRIBUTE Study at https://jcm.asm.org/content/58/10/e01053-20 Evaluation of Optimal Blood Culture Incubation Time To Maximize Clinically Relevant Results from a Contemporary Blood Culture Instrument and Media System at https://jcm.asm.org/content/59/3/e02459-20 Read more at https://jcm.asm.org

Optimizing Blood Cultures with Dr. Eric Ransom and Dr. Valeria Fabre (JCM ed.)

What influential research outside of COVID-19 was published in AAC in 2020? Objectives: • Discuss pathways of young scientists in antimicrobial resistance • Highlight important papers in AAC in 2020 that were not related to COVID-19 • Stimulate discussion in important topics related to antimicrobial agents I want to welcome my co-host Dr. Maria Fernanda Mojica who is the host of the ASM Journal Club focused on Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance. Dr. Mojica is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Case Western Reserve University. Joining us to discuss their experiences and top paper of AAC in 2020 are: • Dr. Ayesha Khan: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX • Dr. Alina Iovleva: Clinical Instructor and Burroughs Wellcome Fund Scholar, University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA

Top Non-COVID-19 AAC Papers of 2020: A discussion with early stage investigators (AAC ed.)

Microbe Magazine Podcast is a monthly science podcast hosted by Jeff Fox, features editor for Microbe Magazine, published by the American Society for Microbiology. Each podcast episode coincides with an article in the current issue of Microbe, which is available online at www.microbemagazine.org. Please contact Patrick Lacey, Managing Editor for Microbe, with any questions, feedback or show ideas at placey@asmusa.org.

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Microbe Magazine Podcast

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