Objective To analyze the drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in West China Hospital of Sichuan University in recent years to provide reference for drug resistance monitoring and prevention strategies of tuberculosis in general hospitals. Methods The clinical strains of MTBC that performed drug susceptibility tests in West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January 2019 and December 2022 were collected. The drug susceptibility information of 13 anti-tuberculosis drugs, namely rifampicin, isoniazid, ethambutol, streptomycin, rifabutin, amikacin, kanamycin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, para-aminosalicylic acid, ethionamide, and capreomycin, was collected and retrospectively analyzed. Results A total of 502 clinical strains of MTBC were included, and 366 of them were isolated from newly-treated patients while 136 form re-treated patients. The resistance rates of MTBC strains to the first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs in descending order were 28.69% (isoniazid), 19.72% (ethambutol), and 14.94% (rifampicin). Among the second-line drugs, the resistance rates to ofloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin were 13.55%, 12.15%, and 11.95%, respectively. The resistance rates to amikacin, kanamycin, para-aminosalicylic acid, and ethionamide were all less than 10%. The resistance rates to streptomycin, capreomycin, and rifabutin were 17.53%, 13.55%, and 12.15%, respectively. The resistance rates to the remaining 12 anti-tuberculosis drugs except capreomycin of MTBC strains isolated from re-treated patients were higher than those of MTBC strains isolated from newly-treated patients, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The isolation rates of monodrug-resistant, polydrug-resistant, multidrug-resistant (MDR) and pre-extensively drug-resistant (pre-XDR) strains were 9.36%, 7.37%, 7.17%, and 7.77%, respectively. The isolation rates of strains with the four drug-resistant phenotypes generally showed a downward trend during the four years, and the changing trends were statistically significant (P<0.05). The isolation rates of MDR and pre-XDR strains from re-treated patients were higher than those from newly-treated patients, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion Tuberculosis drug resistance in West China Hospital of Sichuan University, which is a comprehensive tuberculosis-designated hospital, remained severe during the four years from 2019 to 2022, and the prevention of tuberculosis and the monitoring of drug resistance should be further strengthened.
Objective To evaluate the performance of a novel magnetic particle-based chemiluminescence reagent for detecting cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide. Methods Serum and cerebrospinal fluid specimens were collected from patients with suspected cryptococcal infection at West China Hospital, Sichuan University between July 2022 and September 2023. All samples were simultaneously tested by chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) and lateral flow immunoassay (LFA), and the results of the two methods were compared. Results A total of 357 patients with suspected cryptococcal infection were enrolled, including 247 serum samples and 110 cerebrospinal fluid samples. The novel magnetic particle-based CLIA reagent exhibited favorable clinical performance for cryptococcal infection detection. For serum and cerebrospinal fluid specimens, the sensitivity was 96.95% and 100.00%, respectively; the specificity was 99.14% and 100.00%, respectively. It showed high consistency with the LFA reagent (the kappa values were both greater than 0.98 for serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples). Moreover, the CLIA reagent enables quantitative measurement for clinical therapeutic monitoring. Conclusion The novel magnetic particle-based CLIA reagent possesses good diagnostic performance and can provide reliable and supportive laboratory evidence for clinical practice in both early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring.