Expanded Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Hard-to-Treat Infections

• Contact the laboratory for details before submission. 
• Testing appropriate for:

-Enterobacterales isolates that  test non-susceptible to all beta-lactams, including either ceftazidime-avibactam or meropenem-vaborbactam. These isolates may be MBL-producing isolates with few effective treatment options.

-Enterobacteriaceae with NDM, VIM, or IMP genes confirmed by a molecular test.

• None

• Pure isolate on Non-selective media slant such as TSA, Blood, or Chocolate.

• Specimen must be labeled with at least two unique patient identifiers and match the accompanying TNDOH ARLN Lab Web Portal order. 

• None

• Store specimens at ambient temperature until shipment. 

• Ship specimens at ambient temperature. 
• All infectious substance shipments must conform to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR 49 C.F.R. Parts 171-180).

• Only pure cultures will be accepted for testing.
• Mixed cultures will be rejected.
• Specimens that are mislabeled will be rejected.
• Specimens that are broken in transit will be rejected.
• Specimens received that do not meet the specimen requirements outlined in the Directory of Services or that deviate from the special instructions will not be acceptable for testing. 

• Nashville