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North West London Pathology > Tests > Cross infection screen

Cross infection screen

Category Microbiology >> Microbiology
Clinical Indications

To screen for the following organisms:

multi-drug resistant coliforms
multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumanni
vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE)
carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE)
Sample & container required Swabs in Amies transport medium
Transport storage Transport to the laboratory on the day of collection or refrigerate overnight
Turnaround time 3 days
Notes
  • Samples may be referred to UK Health Security Agency for further investigation.
  • The Carba5 test used to detect carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae test is qualitative and cannot predict the quantity of antigens present in the sample. Clinical presentation and other test results must be taken into consideration to establish diagnosis.
  • A positive test does not rule out the possibility that other antibiotic resistance mechanisms may be present. (The test is able to detect OXA-48, KPC, NDM, IMP, VIM only).
  • The laboratory is not currently accredited for the Carab5 test due to a change in platform.
  • The laboratory is also not currently accredited for the Novodiag CarbaR+ PCR for the detection of Carbapenem Resistant organisms due to a change in platform ( This PCR is able to detect KPC, NDM, IMP, OXA-23, OXA-24, OXA-48/181, OXA-51 (detected only when promoter ISAbaI is present), OXA-58, VIM, MCR-1.) Please note OXA-24 carbapenemase producing Acinetobacter baumannii strains have not been verified for this PCR. Isolates suspected of OXA-24 carbapenemase producing Acinetobacter baumannii will be referred to a reference laboratory.
  • Please see the accreditation page on this website for further information.
  • Carbapenamase PCR Test results available on separate Accession number.