{"_asset":{"@search.score":7.045686,"Name":"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","AlternateTitleCommaDelimited":"","Id":"9354","AssetLocationUri":null,"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.

","PublicationOrPresentationDate":"2025-07-29T00:00:00Z","LastModifiedDate":"2025-08-19T20:21:19.776Z","IsDeleted":false,"DigitalObjectIdentifier":"10.1016/j.ijid.2025.108001","ContentTypeName":"Research","ParentContentTypeName":"Journal Article","JournalName":"International Journal of Infectious Diseases","ContentType":"Journal Article > Research","AvailabilityTypeId":1,"AvailabilityType":"Full Text","JournalIssue":"","JournalVolume":"","JournalPages":"108001","JournalAbbreviation":"Int J Infect Dis","Conference":null,"ConferenceStartDate":null,"ConferenceEndDate":null,"content":null,"UrlSlug":"performance-evaluation-mini-lab-all-one-clinical-bacteriology-laboratory-adapted-low-resource-settings-district-hospital-central-african-republic","collections":[],"countries":[{"Name":"Central African Republic","Id":43}],"asset_languages":[{"AlternateTitle":"","language":[{"Id":1,"Name":"English"}],"contentTranslation":[],"contentLocation":[]}],"creators":[{"Name":"Langendorf C","Id":17133,"ac":[{"Order":0}]},{"Name":"Ronat JB","Id":19881,"ac":[{"Order":1}]},{"Name":"Natale A","Id":19882,"ac":[{"Order":2}]},{"Name":"Vandenberg O","Id":19889,"ac":[{"Order":15}]},{"Name":"Jacobs J","Id":19892,"ac":[{"Order":13}]},{"Name":"Kanapathipillai R","Id":20293,"ac":[{"Order":11}]},{"Name":"Michel J","Id":23478,"ac":[{"Order":12}]},{"Name":"Naas T","Id":25515,"ac":[{"Order":14}]},{"Name":"Oueslati S","Id":26659,"ac":[{"Order":5}]},{"Name":"Baillet B","Id":27180,"ac":[{"Order":6}]},{"Name":"Kouassi F","Id":28031,"ac":[{"Order":8}]},{"Name":"Franquesa C","Id":32000,"ac":[{"Order":7}]},{"Name":"Vidal T","Id":37260,"ac":[{"Order":3}]},{"Name":"Kodo H","Id":37261,"ac":[{"Order":4}]},{"Name":"Rafai CD","Id":37262,"ac":[{"Order":9}]},{"Name":"Dierberg K","Id":37263,"ac":[{"Order":10}]}],"keywords":[{"Name":"antimicrobial resistance","Id":72},{"Name":"sepsis","Id":141}]}}

Science Portal

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