The exam itself is in three parts. The first two parts are written papers with short answer questions, essays and journal evaluation papers, followed by the practical exam. The practical exam consists of clinical scenarios with samples to be processed, as well as short "spots", covering a wide range of isolates.

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AMH.

1. All Gram positive bacteria are resistant to nalidixic acid, while most coliforms are sensitive - there an E. faecium can be distinguished from a coliform.
2. All Proteus spp. are resistant to nitrofurantoin, whereas most other coliforms are sensitive.
3. Klebsiella spp are usually only resistant to ampicillin, unless they are ESBLs of course!

AMH.

Raised WCCs in the urine:

• infection
• inflammation
• catheterisation
• tumour
• calculi
• contamination

Sterile pyuria:

• fastidious organisms
• STI
• calculi
• tumour

False negative white cell:

• Proteus spp ↑pH leads to reduced white cellsa
• WCCs are lysed by hypotonicity of the urine, if sample analysis is delayed.

AMH.

Leukocyte esterase test:

• Leukocyte esterase is detected as it is released from lukocytes using strips containing indoxyl carboxylic acid ester.
• 88-94% sensitive at detecting WBCs at >10/mm³
• Causes of false +/- results are here.

Nitrate reductase (Greiss test):

MSU: first sample of the day will have the highest yield for culture.

TB: 3x EMUs

Schistosoma haematobium: maximum egg secretion 10:00-14:00 or a 24 hour collection of terminal urine.

AMH.

MicrobLog has been moved to a new platform. Current members should re-register to continue accessing all features of the site.

The first official MicrobLog newsletter, will be circulated soon. It will contain the following:

• Summaries of the latetst microbiology articles
• Linked to Pubmed abstracts
• Review of national/internation guidelines (hyperlinked)
• Other interesting anecdotes
• All in PDF format.

As always, all contributors are welcome. Does anyone have any ideas as to what should be included?