title: Management of antifungal susceptibility testing in Italy: comparative results of 2 nationwide surveys (1999 and 2004) in 102 Italian hospitals.
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.
authors.affiliation: UO Microbiologia, AO Ospedale San Carlo Borromeo, 20153 Milano, Italia. farina.claudio@sancarlo.mi.it
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Farina
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Manso
authors.forename: Silvana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanna
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Faggi
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fazii
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andreoni
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000592:standards*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents