Abstract
The carbapenem inactivation method (CIM) and modified CIM (mCIM) are simple and economical phenotypic screening methods for detecting carbapenemase production in Gram-negative bacteria. Although the mCIM has been recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, both the CIM and mCIM have limitations. This study describes another modified CIM, called CIMTris, in which carbapenemase was extracted from bacteria with 0.5 M Tris-HCl (pH 7.6) buffer. The ability of the CIMTris to detect carbapenemase production was examined in Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas species. The CIMTris had an overall sensitivity of 97.6% and an overall specificity of 92.6%, whereas the mCIM had a sensitivity of 45.1% and a specificity of 100% for the isolates tested. These findings indicate that the CIMTris is useful for detecting carbapenemase production in Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas species.