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 Morace, G.
Right arrow Articles by Fadda, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Morace, G.
Right arrow Articles by Fadda, G.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 1999, p. 1871-1875, Vol. 37, No. 6
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

PCR-Restriction Enzyme Analysis for Detection of Candida DNA in Blood from Febrile Patients with Hematological Malignancies

Giulia Morace,1,* Livio Pagano,2 Maurizio Sanguinetti,1 Brunella Posteraro,1 Luca Mele,2 Francesco Equitani,2 Giuseppina D'Amore,1 Giuseppe Leone,2 and Giovanni Fadda1

Institutes of Microbiologia1 and Semeiotica Medica,2 Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia "A. Gemelli," Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 1-00168 Rome, Italy

Received 10 August 1998/Returned for modification 2 November 1998/Accepted 1 March 1999

Blood samples were drawn daily from 72 patients who had hematological malignancies, neutropenia, and fever and who had failed to respond to broad-spectrum antibiotics. Each sample was used for conventional fungal blood cultures and for detection and identification of Candida DNA by a PCR method with subsequent restriction enzyme analysis (REA) recently developed in our laboratory. The PCR method was able to detect five CFU of Candida spp. per ml of blood, and subsequent REA of the amplicons allowed the identification of the Candida species most commonly implicated in cases of candidiasis. Thirty-one patients were PCR-REA positive, and four of these patients were also culture positive. The ultimate diagnosis for 13 of these patients and 1 patient who was PCR-REA negative was disseminated candidiasis (confirmed by clinical data, multiple cultures, histology, autopsy, and/or ultrasonographic evidence of hepatosplenic candidiasis). The molecular method is significantly more sensitive than conventional fungal blood cultures and has a high negative predictive value (97.5%) for the development of disseminated candidiasis in neutropenic patients.


* Corresponding author. Present address: Istituto di Microbiologia, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Pascal 36, 20133 Milan, Italy. Phone: 39-2-26601215. Fax: 39-2-26601218. E-mail: morace{at}imiucca.csi.unimi.it.


Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 1999, p. 1871-1875, Vol. 37, No. 6
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Huang, A., Li, J.-W., Shen, Z.-Q., Wang, X.-W., Jin, M. (2006). High-throughput identification of clinical pathogenic fungi by hybridization to an oligonucleotide microarray.. J. Clin. Microbiol. 44: 3299-3305 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • White, P. L., Archer, A. E., Barnes, R. A. (2005). Comparison of Non-Culture-Based Methods for Detection of Systemic Fungal Infections, with an Emphasis on Invasive Candida Infections. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 2181-2187 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kirby, A, Chapman, C, Hassan, C, Burnie, J (2004). The diagnosis of hepatosplenic candidiasis by DNA analysis of tissue biopsy and serum. J. Clin. Pathol. 57: 764-765 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Johnson, M. D., MacDougall, C., Ostrosky-Zeichner, L., Perfect, J. R., Rex, J. H. (2004). Combination Antifungal Therapy. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 48: 693-715 [Full Text]  
  • Luo, G., Mitchell, T. G. (2002). Rapid Identification of Pathogenic Fungi Directly from Cultures by Using Multiplex PCR. J. Clin. Microbiol. 40: 2860-2865 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yeo, S. F., Wong, B. (2002). Current Status of Nonculture Methods for Diagnosis of Invasive Fungal Infections. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 15: 465-484 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ahmad, S., Khan, Z., Mustafa, A. S., Khan, Z. U. (2002). Seminested PCR for Diagnosis of Candidemia: Comparison with Culture, Antigen Detection, and Biochemical Methods for Species Identification. J. Clin. Microbiol. 40: 2483-2489 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • SENDID, B., POIROT, J. L., TABOURET, M., BONNIN, A., CAILLOT, D., CAMUS, D., POULAIN, D. (2002). Combined detection of mannanaemia and anti-mannan antibodies as a strategy for the diagnosis of systemic infection caused by pathogenic Candida species. J Med Microbiol 51: 433-442 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chang, H. C., Leaw, S. N., Huang, A. H., Wu, T. L., Chang, T. C. (2001). Rapid Identification of Yeasts in Positive Blood Cultures by a Multiplex PCR Method. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39: 3466-3471 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Park, S., Wong, M., Marras, S. A. E., Cross, E. W., Kiehn, T. E., Chaturvedi, V., Tyagi, S., Perlin, D. S. (2000). Rapid Identification of Candida dubliniensis Using a Species-Specific Molecular Beacon. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38: 2829-2836 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Posteraro, B., Sanguinetti, M., Masucci, L., Romano, L., Morace, G., Fadda, G. (2000). Reverse Cross Blot Hybridization Assay for Rapid Detection of PCR-Amplified DNA from Candida Species, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in Clinical Samples. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38: 1609-1614 [Abstract] [Full Text]