There are several approaches available for purifying microorganisms prior to matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis. In the present study, rapid BACpro® II (Nittobo Medical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan), a new application, has been compared with Sepsityper® kit (Bruker Daltonics, Billerica, USA) and an in-house method. Samples were also tested with two modules, standard and Sepsityper®, identified in the Bruker MALDI-TOF MS. The bottles having monomicrobial growth were included in the study according to Gram staining results. In total, two hundred blood culture bottles were included but there was no growth in one of the subcultures so 199 blood culture bottles were studied prospectively. With the standard MALDI-TOF MS analysis, rapid BACpro® II could successfully identify microorganisms in 174/199 (87.4%) of the bottles where Sepsityper® kit and in-house method were successful in 136/199 (68.3%) and 114/199 (57.3%), respectively. When the MALDI-TOF MS data were analysed by Sepsityper® module, the identification rates were increased to 94.4%, 82.1% and 69.8% (p < 0.001), respectively. In the Sepsityper® module, 72/73 (98.6%) of Gram-negative and 97/106 (91.5%) of Grampositive microorganisms were detected by rapid BACpro® II method. The present study shows that rapid BACpro® II is a reliable preparation procedure and has higher rates of identification compared with Sepsityper® kit and in-house method. The use of the Sepsityper® module in blood cultures increases the chance of identification for all three methods studied.

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The serious diseases of the central nervous system (CNS); encephalitis and meningitis, have high mortality and morbidity rate especially not diagnosed and treated in time. Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is the tool of choice for viral diagnosis in CNS infections. In this study, viral etiological agents found in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples sent to our university hospital virology laboratory for laboratory diagnosis of CNS infections were retrospectively evaluated and results were compared with other reports from our country. Viral etiological agents found in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples sent to Ege University Faculty of Medicine Department of Medical Microbiology Virology Laboratories for laboratory diagnosis of CNS infection between 01.01.2009-31.12.2015 were evaluated retrospectively. A total of 3778 CSF tests were performed for cell culture of enterovirus (EV) in 487 samples and 3291 tests for nucleic acid testing (NAT) by real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1), herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV2), varicella zoster virus (VZV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), human herpes virus 6 (HHV6) and EV. VZV and EV NAT's were performed during the last one and five years period, respectively. NAT positive results for HSV1, HSV2, CMV, EBV, VZV, HHV6 and EV were 1.80% (24/1333), 0.08% (1/1333), 3.28% (19/580), 4.35% (22/506), 0.46% (1/216), 1.05% (5/478) and 3.37% (6/178), respectively. EV was isolated in 30 (6.20%) of 487 CSF samples by viral culture. Positive samples were mainly from pediatric, neurology and infectious diseases clinics as expected. The number of higher positive results were found in samples sentin december (35.3%), july (12.9%) and november (10.6%). Overall 80% of positive samples belonged to patients over 18 years old. When the results of other studies reported from Turkey are examined, although the positivity rates are generally similar, it is seen that the rates specific to certain factors are higher in selected smaller patient groups like HSV1 and EV. Rapid nucleic acid tests like multiplex PCR and microarray will provide more practical and effective laboratory diagnosis approach in CNS infections, since many more microorganisms may be causative agents.

İnsan immün yetmezlik virüsü (HIV) enfeksiyonu tanısında temel amaç, hızlı ve doğru bir şekilde HIV enfeksiyonuna sahip kişilerin saptanmasıdır. Uluslararası ve ulusal rehberlerin klasik algoritmalarında tekrarlayan şekilde reaktif bulunan örneklerin doğrulanması/desteklenmesi gerektiği önerilmektedir. Uzun yıllardan beri kullanılan rekombinant "line immünoassay testi (LIA)", maliyet ve emek etkin olması için biriktirilerek çalışılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, rutin tanıda uzun süredir kullandığımız rekombinan HIV 1/2 LIA (INNO-LIA ® , Fujirebio, Ghent, Belçika) ile daha hızlı sonuç verebilen, HIV-1 ve HIV-2 enfeksiyonu tanısının doğrulanması ve ayırt edilmesi için kullanılan immünokromatografik bir test olan Geenius™ HIV 1/2 doğrulama testi (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Marnes-la-Coquette, Fransa)nin karşılaştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Ege Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Hastanesi Tıbbi Viroloji Laboratuvarına HIV serolojisinin değerlendirilmesi için gönderilen örneklerden anti-HIV 1/2 ve p24 antijen pozitif ve sınır değer saptanan 150 serum örneği ile HIV-1 pozitif olduğu bilinen üç dış kalite kontrol örneği olmak üzere toplam 153 örnek çalışmaya dahil edilmiştir. Enzim immün testlerle çalışılan örnekler, Geenius™ HIV 1/2 doğrulama (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Marnes-la-Coquette, Fransa) ve rekombinant HIV 1/2 LIA (INNO-LIA ® , Fujirebio, Ghent, Belçika) testleri ile çalışıldı. HIV-1 viral yük sonuçları, plazma örneklerinde gerçek zamanlı HIV-1 testi ile Abbott m200sp sistem (Abbott Molecular, Wiesbaden, Almanya)'inde çalışılarak elde edilmiştir. Her iki doğrulama testinde sonuçlar 147 (%96.08) örnekte uyumlu bulunmuştur. Uyumsuz saptanan altı örneğin birinde LIA HIV-1 pozitif ve Geenius belirsiz, ikisinde LIA belirsiz ve Geenius HIV-1 pozitif, diğer üçünde de LIA belirsiz ve Geenius negatif saptanmıştır. HIV antikoru pozitif olan örneklerde LIA iki (2/97, %2.6) ve negatif olan üç (3/53, %5.66) örnekte belirsiz sonuç vermiştir. Geenius testi ise HIV antikoru pozitif ve negatif olan örnekleri doğru saptamıştır. Yeni kullanılmaya başlanan immünokromatografik test; uygulanma süresinin kısalığı, emek yoğun olmaması, HIV-1/2 ayrımını yapa-

The aims of this study were to evaluate the sensitivity of QuantiFERON®-TB Gold in Tube (QFT) test and its agreement with the tuberculin skin test (TST), to investigate possible factors associated with indeterminate QFT test results and to explore the relationship between latent tuberculosis infection (LTBE) prevalence and the rate of tuberculosis (TB) cases in our region. 1455 cases with QFT test performed in Ege University Faculty of Medicine Hospital between 2013 and 2015 were included in the study and simultaneously TST results of 268 of 1455 cases were reached. TST results were evaluated according to both ≥ 10 mm and ≥ 15 mm cut-off values. The QFT results of the cases were compared according to their gender, age groups and clinical characteristics with chi-square test. Stratified analyses were also conducted according to age groups. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyse factors associated with QFT positivity and indeterminate QFT results. Cohen's kappa was used to test the agreement between QFT and TDT, overall and stratified according to age groups. Among 1455 cases, 396 (27.2%) were QFT positive and 120 (8.2%) had an indeterminate QFT result. When the indeterminate results were excluded, QFT positivity was found as 29.7%. The highest indeterminate results were determined among 0-4 year-old and ≥ 65 year-old groups as 17.6% and 12.1%, respectively and lowest among the 55-64 age group as 4%. The comparison of the cases without any cellular immunity defect and the patients with hematologic malignancies or immune deficiency and patients under immunosuppressive treatment had two and 2.44 times more indeterminate QFT results, respectively. Among 268 cases with TST results reached, QFT positivity was 30.6%; 38.1% for TST ≥ 10 mm and 25.7% for TST ≥ 15. After the exclusion of indeterminate results, the agreement between QFT and TST ≥ 10 mm was 71.3% for positive cases and 75.5% for negative cases. The highest agreement between QFT and TST ≥ 10 mm was in the age group 35-64 and lowest in the age group ≥ 65. Among 43 culture-positive cases, 32 had QFT positive, six negative and five indeterminate results. When indeterminate results were excluded, the sensitivity of thetest was 84.2% (32/38) among culture-positive active TB cases. TST results were available for 17 of the culture-positive cases, among them QFT sensitivity was 76.5% (13/17), TST sensitivity 70.6% (12/17) and the sensitivity of both tests was 88.2% (15/17). The ratio of QFT positivity has increased as the age increased. Interestingly, QFT positivity was higher among females than males in the 15-34 age group and higher among males in the 35-64 age group. The rates of QFT positivity were lower among immunocompromised patients. When QFT and TST positivities were compared with the rate of TB cases among age groups, QFT positivity was observed as parallel to the rate of TB cases. In conclusion, although the sensitivity of QFT was higher than TST, it was found that it could not be considered as a gold standard in LTBE diagnosis. As active TB c...