Microbe Magazine Podcast

Laboratory testing for COVID-19, what’s new since we talked about this in August? A lot. Here are some of the questions we’ll talk about. • Do positive antibody tests indicate that people are immune to infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19? • What sample types might replace the dreaded nasopharyneal swab for more comfortable sample collection? • What are the new rapid tests for COVID-19, and how should they be used? Alex is joined by two expert guests to discuss diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2. - Dr. Melissa Miller, who is the Director of both the Clinical Molecular Microbiology Laboratory and the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Miller is also an Editor of JCM. - Dr. Elitza Theel, who is the Director of the Infectious Diseases Serology laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Theel is a member of the Editorial Board of JCM. Links: Antibody Testing and Serology “Neutralizing antibodies correlate with protection from

How are we discovering new antibiotics in the 21st, How is science responding to the antibiotic crisis? Objectives: • Discuss the challenges on discovering new antibiotics in the modern era • Debate the current strategies to find new molecules against the most recalcitrant pathogens • Understand the multiple approaches that could lead to antibiotic development. Visit aac.asm.org to read the latest issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Let’s talk about parasites. Parasites are shocking. Some of them are large enough to be seen without magnification as they crawl across eyeballs, wriggle under the skin or exit from various orifices of the body. But parasites are fascinating and diverse creatures which live in association with a host, such as a human, and they cause the host harm. Many parasites have complicated life cycles that can involve multiple hosts and different developmental stages of the parasite within each host. Links mentioned: Dr. Pritt’s Blog, Creepy, Dreadful, Wonderful Parasites: https://parasitewonders.blogspot.com/ Dr. Couturier’s Paper, Detection of Intestinal Protozoa in Trichrome-Stained Stool Specimens by Use of a Deep Convolutional Neural Network, https://jcm.asm.org/content/58/6/e02053-19

Why are we running out of antibiotics? A look at the pharmaceutical development of one of the most life-saving class of drugs. Topics discussed: The reasons behind the stagnant and declining antibiotic development pipeline New initiatives focused on stimulating the antibiotic market Strategies to spur the antibiotic development Guests: Helen Boucher, MD. Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Tufts Medical Center, Editor of AAC Karen Bush, PhD. Professor of Practice & Interim Director, Biotechnology Program Indiana University. Former Editor AAC. Visit aac.asm.org to read current and archived issues of the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy journal.

• How can the clinical laboratory detect carbapenemases, which are enzyme that can make bacteria resistant to some of the most potent or broad-spectrum antibiotics available? • What is the clinical significance of detecting such an enzyme? Does it affect the care of the patient? • Finally, what practical advice can we give to help labs decide which of the many available tests is the best one for them? The antibiotics we discuss are the “carbapenems,” such as imipenem and meropenem. These are among the broadest spectrum antibiotics available. Bacteria that are resistant to carbapenems were identified as “urgent threats” by the CDC in 2019. Some bacteria produce enzymes which destroy these antibiotics, and these enzymes are called “carbapenemases.” By producing a carbapenemase, bacteria become resistant to these antibiotics, making carbapenems useless for treatment of infections caused by such bacteria. I am joined by an expert guest to discuss detection of carbapenemases, Dr. Patricia Simner. Dr. Simner is an

Discussing new guidelines on the use of vancomycin for severe Staphylocccus aureus infections. The August issue of AAC includes interesting papers about mechanism of resistance to metronidazole in C. difficile, a variant of KPC resistant to ceftazidime-avibactam and description of a new “ultra-broad spectrum B-lactamase inhibitor” among others! You can find the issue at https://aac.asm.org.

The state of the art treatment of COVID-19, understand the role of some medications currently used for COVID-19 and dissecting novel approaches and strategies for the treatment of COVID-19 likely to become available in the short term. Guests: Henry Masur MD and Adarsh Bhimraj MD. Read the current issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy at https://aac.asm.org

A conversation with Lou Rice about his career and his experience of being the Editor of Chief for the AAC Journal for the past decade.  Visit aac.asm.org to read the current issue.

A discussion about laboratory testing for COVID-19 with two experts, Dr. Melissa Miller and Dr. Elitza Theel. Hosted by Journal of Clinical Microbiology Editor in Chief, Dr. Alexander McAdam. Get the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology at https://jcm.asm.org/

Objectives: • Discuss the therapeutic options currently being used for COVID-19 • Evaluate some clinical data supporting the use of these drugs • Comment on clinical trials and enrollment Participants: • Andre Kalil, Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NB, USA. Lead Investigator, NIH Clinical Trial for COVId-19 • Miguel A. Martinez, Editor AAC. Professor, AIDS Research Institute-IrsiCaixa, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain. Visit https://aac.asm.org/ to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript.