Sensitivity and specificity of Matrix-Associated Laser Desorption/Ionization – Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) in discrimination at species level for Acinetobacter bacteremia

Abstract We aimed to establish the role of MALDI-TOF MS on species discrimination of phenotypically indistinguishable A. baumannii , A. pittii and A. nosocomialis . Compared to multiplex PCR, the gold standard, MALDI-TOF MS yielded a high sensitivity for A. baumannii (97.9%) and specificity for A. pittii (98.9%) and A. nosocomialis (100%).