Determination of sensitivity of microorganisms of the Klebsiella genus to antimicrobial drugs by the MALDI-TOF MS method

Abstract

Actual microbiological diagnostics of infections caused by Klebsiella spp. should include isolation of the strain, its identification and fastest possible determination of the pathogen susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. We evaluated the prospects of using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to determine the susceptibility of Klebsiella spp. strains to antimicrobial agents. According to the results of mass spectrometry Klebsiella spp. strains analysis, we carried out cluster analysis by the UPGMA method based on mass spectra and data on the susceptibility of the studied strains to antimicrobial agents, and then studied the obtained dendrograms. We identified the areas with the highest probability of the location of antibiotic resistance markers by comparing the mass spectra of susceptible and resistant microorganisms at different concentrations of antimicrobial agents. Thus, using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, a new direction in assessing the susceptibility of Klebsiella spp. to antimicrobial agents can be formed. Key words: antibiotic resistance, Klebsiella spp., MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry