This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Peters, R. P. H.
Right arrow Articles by Savelkoul, P. H. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Peters, R. P. H.
Right arrow Articles by Savelkoul, P. H. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2007, p. 3641-3646, Vol. 45, No. 11
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01056-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Quantitative Detection of Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis DNA in Blood To Diagnose Bacteremia in Patients in the Intensive Care Unit{triangledown}

Remco P. H. Peters,1,2* Michiel A. van Agtmael,2 Sonja Gierveld,1 Sven A. Danner,2 A. B. Johan Groeneveld,3 Christina M. J. E. Vandenbroucke-Grauls,1 and Paul H. M. Savelkoul1

Departments of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control,1 Internal Medicine,2 Intensive Care, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands3

Received 23 May 2007/ Returned for modification 31 August 2007/ Accepted 12 September 2007

Direct detection of bacterial DNA in blood offers a fast alternative to blood culture and is presumably unaffected by the prior use of antibiotics. We evaluated the performance of two real-time PCR assays for the quantitative detection of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and for Enterococcus faecalis bacteremia directly in blood samples, without prior cultivation. Whole-blood samples for PCR were obtained simultaneously with blood cultures from patients admitted to the intensive care unit of our hospital. After the extraction of DNA from 200 µl of blood, real-time PCR was performed for the specific detection and quantification of S. aureus and E. faecalis DNA. The sensitivity for bacteremia of the S. aureus PCR was 75% and that of the E. faecalis PCR was 73%, and both tests had high specificity values (93 and 96%, respectively). PCR amplification reactions were positive for S. aureus for 10 (7%) blood samples with negative blood cultures, and 7 (4%) PCR reactions were positive for E. faecalis. The majority of these PCR results were likely (50%) or possibly (42%) related to infection with the specific microorganism, based on clinical data and radiological and microbiological investigations. PCR results were concordant for 95% of paired whole-blood samples, and blood culture results were concordant for 97% of the paired samples. We conclude that the detection of S. aureus and E. faecalis DNA in blood by real-time PCR enables a rapid diagnosis of bacteremia and that a positive DNAemia is related to proven or possible infection with the specific microorganism in the majority of patients with negative blood cultures.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: VU University Medical Center, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Phone: 31 20 4442780. Fax: 31 20 4444313. E-mail: r.peters{at}vumc.nl

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 19 September 2007.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2007, p. 3641-3646, Vol. 45, No. 11
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01056-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Peters, R. P. H., de Boer, R. F., Schuurman, T., Gierveld, S., Kooistra-Smid, M., van Agtmael, M. A., Vandenbroucke-Grauls, C. M. J. E., Persoons, M. C. J., Savelkoul, P. H. M. (2009). Streptococcus pneumoniae DNA Load in Blood as a Marker of Infection in Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia. J. Clin. Microbiol. 47: 3308-3312 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Forrest, G. N., Roghmann, M.-C., Toombs, L. S., Johnson, J. K., Weekes, E., Lincalis, D. P., Venezia, R. A. (2008). Peptide Nucleic Acid Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization for Hospital-Acquired Enterococcal Bacteremia: Delivering Earlier Effective Antimicrobial Therapy. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 52: 3558-3563 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kumar, S., Wang, L., Fan, J., Kraft, A., Bose, M. E., Tiwari, S., Van Dyke, M., Haigis, R., Luo, T., Ghosh, M., Tang, H., Haghnia, M., Mather, E. L., Weisburg, W. G., Henrickson, K. J. (2008). Detection of 11 Common Viral and Bacterial Pathogens Causing Community-Acquired Pneumonia or Sepsis in Asymptomatic Patients by Using a Multiplex Reverse Transcription-PCR Assay with Manual (Enzyme Hybridization) or Automated (Electronic Microarray) Detection. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 3063-3072 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»