Esther Manso

Publications (6)12.09 Total impact

• Article: Evaluation of the peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridisation technology for yeast identification directly from positive blood cultures: an Italian experience.

  Claudio Farina, Silvana Perin, Stefano Andreoni, Marco Conte, Paolo Fazii, Gianluigi Lombardi, Esther Manso, Cristina Morazzoni, Silvana Sanna
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  ABSTRACT: Fungaemia is an increasing nosocomial pathology. The 'gold standard' for detection of fungaemia is blood culture, but it is time-consuming and its sensitivity for early detection is low. On the other hand, yeasts present different antifungal sensitivity patterns to be quickly detected to allow an effective treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performances of PNA-FISH to directly identify yeasts from blood cultures and to compare results with those obtained by culture. A total of 176 blood cultures positive for yeasts at direct Gram stain and 24 negative blood cultures as control collected from 15 Italian hospitals, included in a network coordinated by the Medical Mycology Committee, Italian Society of Clinical Microbiology (AMCLI), were examined both by culture and PNA-FISH technology. Sensitivity of the PNA-FISH technique evaluated for five Candida species was 99.3% and specificity, 100%. Distinguishing which yeast is implicated in fungaemia and whether the infection is caused by multiple species are important for the selection of antifungal therapy. The PNA-FISH technique is a very useful approach because the test discriminates between groups of Candida species with different susceptibility pattern, particularly against azoles and echinocandins, with only a 90-minute turn-around time after the Gram-stain reading.
  Mycoses 01/2012; 55(5):388-92. · 2.25 Impact Factor
• Article: Microarray technology for yeast identification directly from positive blood cultures. A multicenter Italian experience.

  Claudio Farina, Giuseppe Russello, Stefano Andreoni, Cristina Bonetti, Marco Conte, Paolo Fazi, Gianluigi Lombardi, Francesco Luzzaro, Esther Manso, Piero Marone, Marco Passera, Andrea Rocchetti, Silvana Sanna, Egidio Franco Viganò
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  ABSTRACT: The authors evaluated the performance of the MycArray™ Yeast ID (Myconostica Ltd, UK) assay in the identification of a total of 88 yeast isolates recovered in culture as compared to that obtained through routine methods. The turn-around time for species identification directly from cultures by the MycArray was 6 hours, much quicker than classical methods and all yeasts were correctly identified. In two cases a double identification including Saccharomyces cerevisiae was noted, but it was not confirmed by culture. The results show that MycArray Yeast ID can be a potential tool for rapid detection and identification of Candida species.
  Medical mycology: official publication of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology 01/2012; 50(5):549-55. · 2.13 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: newmicrobiologica.org

  Article: Interlaboratory evaluation of VITEK2 system and Sensititre YeastOne® for antifungal susceptibility testing of yeasts isolated from blood cultures against four antifungal agents.

  Claudio Farina, Esther Manso, Stefano Andreoni, Marco Conte, Paolo Fazii, Gianluigi Lombardi, Silvana Sanna, Giuseppe Russello
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  ABSTRACT: An interlaboratory evaluation (seven centers) of VITEK2 System and Sensititre YeastOne® was conducted to test the antifungal susceptibilities of yeasts. The MICs of amphotericin B, fluconazole, flucytosine, and voriconazole were determined for 70 isolates of Candida spp. Our results demonstrated a higher interlaboratory agreement of VITEK 2 System than Sensititre YeastOne©. A good concordance between the two methods was observed for amphotericin B, fluconazole, voriconazole and 5-fluorocytosine (from 81.4% to 88.6%). The study suggests the potential value of the VITEK2 System as a convenient alternative method for testing the susceptibility of yeasts. It also indicates the need for further optimization of MIC endpoint criteria to improve interlaboratory agreement.
  The new microbiologica: official journal of the Italian Society for Medical, Odontoiatric, and Clinical Microbiology (SIMMOC) 04/2011; 34(2):195-201. · 1.00 Impact Factor
• Article: Use of the DiversiLab semiautomated repetitive-sequence-based polymerase chain reaction for epidemiologic analysis on Acinetobacter baumannii isolates in different Italian hospitals.

  Edoardo Carretto, Daniela Barbarini, Claudio Farina, Alessia Grosini, Pierluigi Nicoletti, Esther Manso
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  ABSTRACT: Acinetobacter baumannii is typically a nosocomial pathogen. Epidemiologic tools that can rapidly trace the spread of hospital-associated infections due to this microorganism are essential. Currently, amplified fragment length polymorphism and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis using ApaI, a macrorestriction enzyme, are the molecular techniques most widely used to type this microorganism. Unfortunately, they are technically demanding, requiring also well-trained personnel, and are time consuming. The aims of this study are 1) to evaluate the usefulness of the semiautomated repetitive-sequence-based polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR) for typing A. baumannii, comparing this method with another semiautomated technique, such as ribotyping, and 2) to acquire information about the incidence, the clinical significance, and the susceptibility patterns of this microorganism in 13 different Italian hospitals in a 4-week period (total study population, >14000 beds). Twenty-eight A. baumannii were isolated in 7 different hospitals; 21 strains were analyzed with molecular methods. Automated ribotyping distinguished 6 different clusters of isolates, whereas rep-PCR appeared to be more discriminating, allowing us to distinguish 8 different clusters. Our study confirms the good discriminatory power of the semiautomated rep-PCR. Although expensive, this method is simple, fast, and reproducible, and in our opinion, it could be used in a hierarchic approach as a 1st-line typing tool if results of analysis are required in a short period or if a large number of isolates have to be analyzed.
  Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease 01/2008; 60(1):1-7. · 2.53 Impact Factor
• Article: Management of antifungal susceptibility testing in Italy: comparative results of 2 nationwide surveys (1999 and 2004) in 102 Italian hospitals.

  Claudio Farina, Esther Manso, Silvana Sanna, Gianluigi Lombardi, Elisabetta Faggi, Paolo Fazii, Stefano Andreoni
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  ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to verify the standard procedures and minimum level of knowledge of Italian public laboratories involved in the management of antifungal susceptibility testing (AST). Two nationwide surveys were performed in 1999 and 2004. One hundred and two Italian hospitals located in 85 provincial capitals (82.5%) participated to these surveys. In 1999, 28 (27.5%) laboratories versus 16 (15.7%) in 2004 stated that they did not perform any susceptibility testing. Some discrepancies observed in the survey confirm that AST is difficult to be correctly managed, and that it can be performed only in very well-trained centers. The great variability of the results of MIC determination and clinical interpretation underlines the urgent need to improve knowledge about indications, method choice, and interpretative criteria for AST both for clinical microbiologists and clinicians.
  Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease 03/2007; 57(2):225-7. · 2.53 Impact Factor
• Article: Multicenter evaluation of an enzyme immunoassay (Platelia Aspergillus) for the detection of Aspergillus antigen in serum.

  Gianluigi Lombardi, Claudio Farina, Stefano Andreoni, Domenico D'Antonio, Elisabetta Faggi, Esther Manso, Aldo Mazzoni
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  ABSTRACT: Invasive aspergillosis is a serious problem for immunocompromised patients, especially if neutropenic. The diagnosis of this infection is complicated, since clinical symptoms are often similar to those of other fungal diseases. The chance of detecting the presence of a specific antigen in the serum could confirm the suspected clinical diagnosis and. perhaps, be useful for the follow-up of the patient. The Medical Mycology Committee of the Associazione Microbiologi Clinici Italiani (AMCLI) decided to evaluate in a multicenter prospective study (from I November 1998 to 28 February 1999) the performance of the Platelia Aspergillus Kit (Bio-Rad) for the detection of Aspergillus galactomannan in human serum. The enrolled patients included various groups of immunosuppressed patients (mostly neutropenic). Blood samples were drawn at the time of enrollment. This decision was based upon a clinical diagnosis of probable aspergillosis (antibiotic non-responsive fever for at least 96 hours, cough, hemophthosis and positive chest X-ray). Additional blood samples were drawn on days 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 21. Culture and histopathologic examinations were performed according to the individual laboratory workflow. For each patient the laboratory filled a form with all the available clinical information, to create a database on which to evaluate the results of the test. During the study, 187 patients with various kinds of immunosuppression were enrolled. A total of 256 sera were tested: for 117 patients (62.6%) only the basal sample was tested, whereas for the 70 symptomatic patients (37.4%) multiple specimens (range: 1-6) were tested. The results allowed the laboratories to exclude (68.6%) or confirm (31.5%: confirmed and/or probable) the clinical diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis; 4 cases remained undetermined. Based on the results of this study, it seems that the use of this test should be limited to those patients with clinical symptoms of aspergillosis.
  Mycopathologia 02/2002; 155(3):129-33. · 1.65 Impact Factor