Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are autoantibodies directed against primary granules of neutrophils and monocytes’ lysosomes. In general, c-ANCA is strongly associated with vasculitic disorders mainly in ANCA-associated systemic vasculitis (AASV). p-ANCA have been identified in several diseases such as primary (AASV) and secondary vasculitis such as collagen vascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases given the term ‘ANCA-associated disease.’ The objective of this study was to determine the rate of ANCA positivity by indirect immunofluorescent (IF) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and its association with AASV and ANCA associated diseases. Serum from patients with history suspicion of systemic vasculitis were tested for ANCA by IF. Those samples positive for ANCA by IF were further tested for antibodies against myeloperoxidase (MPO) and proteinase 3 (PR3) using the ELISA. Clinical data from medical records were obtained and analyzed. Of 468 samples, a total of 110 were positive for ANCA by IF. IF results showed a p-ANCA pattern in 96 patients and c-ANCA in 14. Of 110 IF positive ANCA, 45 patients were positive by ELISA. Seventeen were positive for MPO-ANCA, 9 were PR3-ANCA positive and 19 were both MPO and PR3 positive. Only 2 patients were classified AASV ie Wegener granulomatosis and the other with microscopic polyangiitis. The remaining patients (n = 108) may be classified as ANCA associated diseases. Our study showed that p-ANCA (87.3%) was the more common ANCA pattern and 40.9% of IF positive samples were positive for PR3- and MPOANCA.

This study was conducted to detect the presence of heterogenous vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (heteroVISA) among MRSA isolates in a major hospital. Forty-three MRSA isolates with vancomycin MIC 2 μg/ml collected in 2009 was screened for heteroVISA using Etest Glycopeptide Resistance Detection (GRD) and confirmed by population analysis profile-area under curve method. The genetic relatedness of heteroVISA strains with other MRSA was examined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) method. Two isolates were shown to be heteroVISA and derived from the same clone. This showed that heteroVISA strains were already present among our local strains since 2009 and were genetically related to other susceptible strains.

Introduction: Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) is often considered as a culture contaminants but it can potentially be pathogenic to patients with risk factors. A combination of species identification and clinical criteria has been suggested in determining true CoNS bacteraemia. Objectives: To identify the species distribution, antibiotic susceptibility patterns and clinical profiles of CoNS isolated from blood cultures among paediatric patients in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). Methods: This study involved CoNS isolation from blood cultures of paediatric in-patients of the Paediatric Institute HKL. Isolates were identified to species level using Analytical Profile Index Staph identification strips and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern following Kirby-Bauer Disc Diffusion method. The clinical profiles of patients were obtained from their medical records. Results: Eleven CoNS species were identified from 148 isolates. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most frequent species isolated (67.6%). The majority of the isolates showed resistance to penicillin (85.8%); while 70.3% were methicillin-resistant (MR) CoNS, which demonstrated a significant association with true infection (p=0.021). Predictors for significant CoNS infection included thrombocytopaenia, presence of predisposing factors, nosocomial infection, blood collected from peripheral vein, and CoNS isolated from two consecutive blood cultures. The most common predisposing factors for the isolation of CoNS were the presence of peripheral (54.1%) and central venous catheters (35.1%). Conclusion: CoNS can cause significant bloodstream infections. The isolation of CoNS from blood cultures should be carefully interpreted by considering the predictive factors. Local data regarding predictive factors of patients with culture-positive CoNS, species distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern are useful to determine the significance of blood culture results and care management of patients