Original article Seo Young Hwang, Young Kwan Lim, Kye Won Choe, Young ho Choi, Mi-Kyung Lee Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea Corresponding to Mi-Kyung Lee, E-mail: cpworld@cau.ac.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2024;27(3):185-196. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2024.27.3.6Received on 2 February 2024, Revised on 8 September 2024, Accepted on 9 September 2024, Published on 20 September 2024.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.This is an Open Access article which is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Abstract Background: As most Candida species cause opportunistic infections, it is helpful for patient care to determine species name of Candida spp. and their distribution in both sterile and non-sterile specimens. We aimed to investigate trends in the distribution of Candida species isolated from a hospital in Korea, along with their antifungal susceptibilities and seasonal variations. Methods: This study was conducted at the Chung-Ang University Hospital and included 8,760 different clinical specimens from

Original article Seungtaek Lim, Seunghwan Seol, Eun Jeong Won, Bosung Park, Heungsup Sung, Mi-Na Kim Department of Laboratory Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea Corresponding to Mi-Na Kim, E-mail: mnkim@amc.seoul.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2024;27(3):205-214. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2024.27.3.4Received on 13 August 2024, Revised on 30 August 2024, Accepted on 3 September 2024, Published on 20 September 2024.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.This is an Open Access article which is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Abstract Background: Unlike the Mycoplasma IST2 kit (bioMérieux), the Mycoplasma IST3 kit has been updated to comply with the standardized antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) method for Ureaplasma spp. (Up) and Mycoplasma hominis (Mh). We aimed to verify the use of the Mycoplasma IST3 kit for genital mycoplasma cultures. Methods: From September 2023 to January 2024, the R1 medium remaining after inoculation with IST2 was refrigerated until the next

Review article Jin-Hee Han, Eun-Taek Han Department of Medical Environmental Biology and Tropical Medicine, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea Corresponding to Eun-Taek Han, E-mail: ethan@kangwon.ac.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2024;27(3):155-170. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2024.27.3.2Received on 31 July 2024, Revised on 14 August 2024, Accepted on 16 August 2024, Published on 9 September 2024.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.This is an Open Access article which is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Abstract Recent advancements in malaria diagnostics have revolutionized the detection and management of this deadly disease. From traditional microscopy to rapid diagnostic tests and currently, to cutting-edge molecular techniques, such as isothermal amplification and different types of polymerase chain reactions, significant progress has been witnessed in enhancing the sensitivity, specificity, and accessibility of diagnostic tools. These innovations have enabled rapid and more accurate detection of malarial parasites, especially in regions with limited

Original article Aram Kim, Heerah Lee, Kyu-Hwa Hur, Heungsup Sung, Mi-Na Kim Department of Laboratory Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea Corresponding to Mi-Na Kim, E-mail: mnkim@amc.seoul.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2020;23(4):191-199. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2020.23.4.4Received on 23 August 2020, Revised on 28 Septenber 2020, Accepted on 13 October 2020, Published on 20 December 2020.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology. Abstract Background: Inconclusive SARS-CoV-2 real-time reverse transcription-PCR (rRT-PCR) test results, which are positive for one or more target genes but not all, are problematic in clinical laboratories. In this study, we aimed to investigate the cause and clinical relevance of such inconclusive results. Methods: rRT-PCR was performed using the Allplex 2019-nCoV assay kit (Seegene Inc., Korea) targeting the following three genes: E, RdRp, and N. For all inconclusive test results reported from March to June 2020, the frequency per kit, lot number, specimen type, cycle threshold (Ct)

Editorial Sunggyun Park1, Do-Hoon Kim1, Won-Mok Lee1, Jung-Sook Ha1, Dong-Seok Jeon1, Jae-Hee Lee2, Namhee Ryoo1 1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Keimyung University School of Medicine, 2Daegu Dongsan Hospital, Daegu, Korea Corresponding to Namhee Ryoo, E-mail: nhryoo@dsmc.or.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2020;23(4):165-171. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2020.23.4.1Received on 15 July 2020, Revised on 22 August 2020, Accepted on 21 September 2020, Published on 20 December 2020.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology. Abstract The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Korea was reported in January 2020. As the secondary transmissions accelerated within the country, the government revised the outbreak alert for COVID-19 from attention to caution. Mid-February, when a massive outbreak was reported from a church in Daegu, our institution initiated testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). More than 300 laboratory tests were performed within the first 2 months, before the number of cases began to decline. Here, we describe our experience

Original article Changseung Liu1*, Eunjung Lee2*, Dokyun Kim1, Seok Hoon Jeong1 1Department of Laboratory Medicine and Research Institute of Bacterial Resistance, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 2Department of Clinical Pathology, Sangji University College of Science, Wonju, Korea *These authors contributed equally to this work. Corresponding to Dokyun Kim, E-mail: kyunsky@yuhs.ac Ann Clin Microbiol 2020;23(3):135-148. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2020.23.3.3Received on 31 January 2020, Revised on 10 April 2020, Accepted on 10 April 2020, Published on 20 September 2020.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology. Abstract Background: We evaluated the performance of ASTA MicroIDSys (ASTA, Korea) and Bruker Biotyper (Bruker Daltonics, Germany) systems in the identification of bacterial isolates from clinical microbiology laboratory specimens during the study period. In addition, species for which the identification accuracy using MALDI-TOF MS systems was previously reported to be poor were also identified by comparing the MS results with those obtained using molecular identification. Methods: A total of

Original article Ji-Ae Choi1, Choon-Mee Kim2, Sook-Jin Jang3, Seong-Sik Cho4, Chul-Ho Jang5, Young-Jin Ko3, Seong-Ho Kang3, Geon Park3 1Division of Antimicrobial Resistance, Center for Infectious Diseases Research, Korea National Institute of Health, KCDC, Cheongju, 2Premedical Science, 3Department of Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, 4Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chosun University Hospital, Gwangju, 5Department of Otolaryngology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea Corresponding to Sook-Jin Jang, E-mail: sjbjang@chosun.ac.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2020;23(1):45-54. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2020.23.1.45Received on 20 September 2019, Revised on 18 November 2019, Accepted on 1 December 2019, Published on 20 March 2019.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology. Abstract Background: The emergence of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii as a nosocomial pathogen is one of the major public health problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of an efflux pump gene adeJ for the multidrug resistance of A. baumannii clinical isolates. Methods: Two groups (MDRAB and SAB)