Background: Early detection of expanded-spectrum cephalosporinase (ESC) hydrolyzing ß-lactamases is essential for antibiotic stewardship. Here we have developed a multiplex lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) that detects cefotaxime-hydrolyzing activity as well as the most prevalent ESC-hydrolyzing ß-lactamases: the CTX-M-like. Methods: The Rapid LFIA ESC test was evaluated retrospectively on 188 (139 Enterobacterales, 30 Pseudomonas spp. and 14 Acinetobacter spp.) agar-grown bacterial isolates with well-characterized ß-lactamase content. One single colony was resuspended in 150 µL extraction buffer containing cefotaxime, incubated at room temperature for 30 min prior to loading on the LFIA for reading within 10 min. Results: Out of the 188 isolates, all 17 that did not express a β-lactamase hydrolyzing cefotaxime gave negative results, and all 171 isolates expressing a β-lactamase known to hydrolyze cefotaxime, gave a positive test result. In addition, all 86 isolates expressing a CTX-M-variant belonging to one of the five CTX-M-subgroups were correctly identified. The sensitivity and specificity was 100% for both tests. Conclusions: The results showed that the multiplex LFIA was efficient, fast, low cost and easy to implement in routine laboratory work for the confirmation of ESC hydrolyzing activity and the presence of CTX-M enzymes.
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