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Performance evaluation of the Mini-Lab, an all-in-one clinical bacteriology laboratory adapted to low-resource settings, in a district hospital in Central African Republic: a prospective descriptive study | Journal Article / Research | MSF Science Portal
Journal Article
|Research

Performance evaluation of the Mini-Lab, an all-in-one clinical bacteriology laboratory adapted to low-resource settings, in a district hospital in Central African Republic: a prospective descriptive study

Langendorf C, Ronat JB, Natale A, Vidal T, Kodo H, Oueslati S, Baillet B, Franquesa C, Kouassi F, Rafai CD, Dierberg K, Kanapathipillai R, Michel J, Jacobs J, Naas T, Vandenberg O
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Abstract

BACKGROUND

Médecins sans Frontières designed an all-in-one microbiology laboratory (the "Mini-Lab") to improve bacterial infections diagnosis in low-resource settings by non-expert laboratory staff. We assessed the diagnostic performance of the Mini-Lab in its final intended use.


METHODS

This was a prospective descriptive study at a District Hospital in Central African Republic. We included hospitalised patients who had a blood culture prescription. Bacteria isolated in the Mini-Lab were sent to a reference laboratory for confirmation. Ease of use was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire after training and up to 8 months after.


RESULTS

Isolated from 960 blood cultures between Sept 2021 and Feb 2022, 76 pathogens were sent for confirmation. The concordance of bacterial identification between the Mini-Lab and the reference method was 97% (74/76) at genus level and 90% (68/76) at species level. Antibiogram showed very good category concordances (≥90%) between the Mini-Lab and the reference methods for most antibiotics. The Mini-Lab was perceived as easy to use by the laboratory technicians.


CONCLUSION

The Mini-Lab, routinely implemented in a district hospital in combination with an antimicrobial stewardship programme showed good performances and usability by non-expert laboratory staff. It is a promising solution to improve access to microbiological diagnostics in remote areas.

Countries

Central African Republic

Subject Area

antimicrobial resistancesepsis

Languages

English
DOI
10.1016/j.ijid.2025.108001
Published Date
29 Jul 2025
PubMed ID
40744243
Journal
International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume | Issue | Pages
Volume Pages 108001
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