Molecular diagnosis of meningitis and meningoencephalitis with an automated real-time multiplex polymerase chain reaction in a tertiary reference complex in Medell ín, Colombia.

This study aimed to describe the performance of an automated multiplex molecular test from patients with suspected meningitis and meningoencephalitis in a tertiary referral complex in Medellin, Colombia. Thus, a prospective study was performed in 638 cerebrospinal fluid samples from January 2017 to July 2019. Molecular detections were carried out by means of the FilmArray® Meningitis/Encephalitis (M/E) Panel from bioMérieux, France, and by conventional tests. Univariate analyses for microbiological and demographic characteristics were performed. Accuracy of the bacterial/fungal PCR assay compared to cultures was also performed. Among patients, 57.7% were male, the median age was 24 (IQR: 6 - 47) years old. The overall positivity was 15.2% (97 detections) and viruses were detected in 45.5% of the samples, bacteria in 43.5% and fungi in 10.8%. The most frequent etiological agents were: Streptococcus pneumoniae (16%), Cryptococcus neoformans/gatti (11.3%) and Herpes simplex virus (10.3%). Four double detections were found. Almost half of positive detections were in patients under 15 years old. This molecular approach is reliable and easily implantable into a laboratory routine, increasing the capacity of detection of bacterial and viral causative agents of meningitis, possibly playing a relevant role in the clinical context. PMID: 33053146 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Source: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Tags: Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo Source Type: research