The impact of the FilmArray meningitis/encephalitis panel on empiric antibiotic prescriptions in patients with suspected community-acquired meningitis

Aaron Pathak; Caitlynn Pham; Sabra Shay; Todd Lasco; Mayar Al Mohajer

doi:10.1017/ash.2024.343

The impact of the FilmArray meningitis/encephalitis panel on empiric antibiotic prescriptions in patients with suspected community-acquired meningitis

Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2024 Jul 26;4(1):e104. doi: 10.1017/ash.2024.343. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Aaron Pathak¹, Caitlynn Pham², Sabra Shay³, Todd Lasco⁴, Mayar Al Mohajer⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
³ Department of Clinical Intelligence, Premier Inc., Charlotte, NC, USA.
⁴ Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.

Abstract

The BioFire® FilmArray® meningitis/encephalitis (FA/ME) panel provides rapid testing for common cerebrospinal fluid pathogens. We compared empiric antibiotic utilization between patients with suspected community-acquired meningitis with and without an FA/ME panel ordered. No significant differences in antibiotic use were found.