Assessing the diagnostic accuracy of PCR-based detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae from nasopharyngeal swabs collected for viral studies in Canadian adults hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia: a Serious Outcomes Surveillance (SOS) Network of the Canadian Immunization Research (CIRN) study

Conclusions While further optimisation may be needed to increase the sensitivity of PCR-based detection, its high specificity suggests there is a value for pneumococcal surveillance. With many laboratories archiving specimens for influenza virus surveillance, this specimen type could provide a non-culture-based method for pneumococcal surveillance.
Source: BMJ Open - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Open access, Research methods Source Type: research