Recently, different bacteriological laboratory interventions that decrease reporting time have been developed. These promising new broad-based techniques have merit, based on their ability to identify rapidly many bacteria, organisms difficult to grow or newly emerging strains, as well as their capacity to track disease transmission. Maldi-TOF MS has been proven to be an accurate and reliable method for organism identification including bacteria, yeast, molds, and mycobacteria. It is rapid, with results often 24 hours earlier than traditional methods, and inexpensive. The range of applications of Maldi-TOF MS has been growing constantly, from rapid species identification to labor-intensive proteomic studies of bacterial physiology (bacterial resistance and virulence). The purpose of this review is to present the different solutions commercialized in France, summarize the place of this technology in microbiology lab and to analyze future perspectives in this field.
Keywords: Maldi-TOF MS; PCR/ESI-MS; clinical microbiology; iPlex MassArray; mass spectrometry.