Tropicare field study preparation at Abomey Hospital, Benin

In preparation for the Tropicare field study, funded by FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, https://www.finddx.org/ ), installation of the Autobio BC60 plus and training took place from the 7th to the 9th of October in the Zou Department Hospital in Abomey, Benin. The study will begin when ethical approval is received.

The Tropicare field study will evaluate the Autobio BC60 plus in a tropical setting at Zou Department Hospital in Abomey, Benin. The Autobio BC60 plus is a continuous monitoring blood culture system that has been designed for use in tropical settings. Currently at the hospital in Abomey, manual blood cultures are performed using a conventional incubator and a twice daily visual check for signs of growth. For the duration of the Tropicare study, this manual method will be replaced with incubation and monitoring by the Autobio BC60 plus.

Lab staff were trained in how to use the software, how to insert and remove blood culture bottles, how to process positive blood cultures and how to perform maintenance on the machine. Trainers were from the Laboratoire de Référence des Mycobactéries (LRM, https://srlcotonou.org/en/the-laboratory/), Cotonou, Benin, and from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Staff from FIND were also present to oversee the process.

Surveillance bacteriology