Clinical Microbiology Newsletter RSS feed: Current Issue. Highly respected for its ability to keep pace with advances in this fast moving field, Clinical Microbiology Newsletter has quickly become a “benchmark” for anyone in the lab. Twice a month the newsletter reports on changes that affect your work, ranging from articles on new diagnostic techniques, to surveys of how readers handle blood cultures, to editorials questioning common procedures and suggesting new ones. Clinical Microbiology Newsletter brings you: – minireviews on pathogenesis, diagnosis, epidemiology, therapy of infectious diseases – practical and brief articles on laboratory techniques – indispensable updates on important clinical problems – editorials and opinions on controversial issues in laboratory medicine – helpful tips on improving the laboratory workplace – instructive case reports that describe or resolve difficult or unusual clinical cases. In these days of cost containment and high expectations, Clinical Microbiology Newsletter can help you streamline procedures and improve results. http://www.cmnewsletter.com/?rss=yesElsevier Inc.en © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Clinical Microbiology Newsletter0196-4399341015 May 2012 © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. healthpermissions@elsevier.comhttp://www.cmnewsletter.com/article/PIIS0196439912000207/abstract?rss=yesAbstract: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are a leading cause of bacterial enteric infections in the United States. Prompt laboratory identification of STEC strains is essential for detecting new and emerging serotypes, for effective and timely outbreak responses and control measures, for monitoring trends in disease epidemiology, and to ensure accurate diagnosis and treatment. Guidelines for laboratory identification of STEC infections by clinical laboratories were published in 2006 and 2009 (CDC, MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 55:1042-1045, 2006; MMWR Recomm. Rep. 58[RR-12], 1–14, 2009). We summarize these recent recommendations for STEC testing by clinical laboratories to emphasize the recommendation that all stools submitted for routine testing from patients with acute community-acquired diarrhea (regardless of patient age, season of the year, or presence or absence of blood in the stool) be simultaneously cultured for E. coli O157:H7 (O157 STEC) and tested with an assay that detects Shiga toxins to detect non-O157 STEC. Update: Recommendations for Diagnosis of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Infections by Clinical LaboratoriesL. Hannah Gould, on behalf of the STEC Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics Working Group10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2012.04.004Clinical Microbiology Newsletter 34, 10 (2012)2012-05-15Clinical Microbiology Newsletter2012-05-153410S0196-4399(12)X0009-67583http://www.cmnewsletter.com/article/PIIS0196439912000219/abstract?rss=yesThe editors would like to receive interesting case reports from our readers for possible publication in the Newsletter. Submitted case reports should contain (i) a brief clinical history summarizing the symptoms and course of the illness, (ii) a description of how the organism(s) was cultured and differentiated from closely associated organisms, and (iii) the results of susceptibility tests for the isolate(s).Call for Submissions10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2012.04.005Clinical Microbiology Newsletter 34, 10 (2012)2012-05-15Clinical Microbiology Newsletter2012-05-153410S0196-4399(12)X0009-68484