Dipicolinic acid-based disk methods for detection of metallo-β-lactamase–producing Pseudomonas spp. and Acinetobacter spp.

We evaluated novel and simple dipicolinic acid (DPA)-based phenotypic screening methods to detect metallo-β-lactamase (MBL)-producing isolates: DPA disk synergy tests and DPA-based disk tests (DPA–imipenem, DPA–meropenem, or DPA–ceftazidime disk tests). Upon testing these methods on 79 MBL-producing and 95 MBL-nonproducing isolates of Pseudomonas spp. and Acinetobacter spp., their specificity and sensitivity were superior or comparable with those of the EDTA-based phenotypic screening methods.