Reduced Turnaround Time and Improved Diagnosis of Invasive Serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae Infections Using a Lyophilised Quadruplex qPCR.

Reduced Turnaround Time and Improved Diagnosis of Invasive Serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae Infections Using a Lyophilised Quadruplex qPCR. J Med Microbiol. 2015 Aug 6; Authors: McHugh MP, Gray SJ, Kaczmarski EB, Guiver M Abstract Since 1996 the Meningococcal Reference Unit in Manchester has provided a national service for PCR confirmation of meningococcal and pneumococcal disease. Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B is predominant in the UK, accounting for greater than 60 % of cases. In response to this the Meningococcal Reference Unit has developed a quadruplex quantitative PCR that detects N. meningitidis capsule transporter (ctrA), serogroup B sialyltransferase (siaDB), Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumolysin (ply) and an internal control. The assay was prepared in a ready-to-use lyophilised format by Applied Biosystems. Laboratory validation showed excellent performance in a specificity panel of 52 isolates and improved detection in comparison to the routine assay. Testing of 244 patient samples showed sensitivity of 93 % (95 % confidence interval, 88 - 98 %), 95 % (91 - 100 %) and 100 % (95 - 100 %) for the ctrA, siaDB and ply assays respectively. Specificity was 100 % (98 - 100 %) for both meningococcal targets and 95 % (92 - 98 %) for ply. The quadruplex also retained high performance in mixed samples and had acceptable reproducibility. After introduction of the quadruplex into routine use the turna...
Source: Journal of Medical Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: J Med Microbiol Source Type: research