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A new interesting article has been published in J Infect Chemother. 2019 Aug 2. pii: S1341-321X(19)30218-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jiac.2019.07.014. and titled:

The impact analysis of a multiplex PCR respiratory panel for hospitalized pediatric respiratory infections in Japan.

Authors of this article are:

Kitano T, Nishikawa H, Suzuki R, Onaka M, Nishiyama A, Kitagawa D, Oka M, Masuo K, Yoshida S.

A summary of the article is shown below:

BACKGROUND: Rapid molecular diagnosis of infections has contributed to timely treatments and antimicrobial stewardship. However, the benefit and cost-effectiveness vary in each country or community because they have different standard practices and health care systems. In Japan, rapid antigen tests (RATs) have been frequently used for pediatric respiratory infections. We investigated the impact and cost-effectiveness of a multiplex PCR (mPCR) respiratory panel for pediatric respiratory infections in a Japanese community hospital.METHODS: We replaced RATs with an mPCR respiratory panel (FilmArray®) for admitted pediatric respiratory infections on March 26, 2018. We compared the days of antimicrobial therapy (DOT) and length of stay (LOS) during the mPCR period (March 2018 to April 2019) with those of the RAT period (March 2012 to March 2018).RESULTS: During the RAT and mPCR periods, 1132 and 149 patients were analyzed. The DOT/case was 12.82 vs 8.56 (p < 0.001), and the LOS was 8.18 vs 6.83 days (p = 0.032) in the RAT and mPCR groups, respectively. The total costs during admissions were ∖258,824 ($2331.7) and ∖243,841 ($2196.8)/case, respectively. Pathogen detection rates were 30.2% vs 87.2% (p < 0.001).CONCLUSION: Compared to conventional RATs, the mPCR test contributed to a reduction in the DOT and LOS in a Japanese community hospital for admission-requiring pediatric respiratory infections. However, a proper stewardship program is essential to further reduce the unnecessary usage of antimicrobials.Copyright © 2019 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Check out the article’s website on Pubmed for more information:

This article is a good source of information and a good way to become familiar with topics such as: Antimicrobial stewardship;Multiplex PCR;Pediatrics;Rapid antigen test;Rapid molecular test;Respiratory infection.

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