Impact of Changing from Staining to Culture Techniques on Detection Rates of Campylobacter Spp. in Routine Stool Samples in Chile

Overview

Journal BMC Infect Dis

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2016 May 15

PMID 27177918

Citations 7

Authors

Lorena Porte

Carmen Varela

Thomas Haecker

Sara Morales

Thomas Weitzel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Campylobacter is a leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis, but sensitive diagnostic methods such as culture are expensive and often not available in resource limited settings. Therefore, direct staining techniques have been developed as a practical and economical alternative. We analyzed the impact of replacing Campylobacter staining with culture for routine stool examinations in a private hospital in Chile.

Methods: From January to April 2014, a total of 750 consecutive stool samples were examined in parallel by Hucker stain and Campylobacter culture. Isolation rates of Campylobacter were determined and the performance of staining was evaluated against culture as the gold standard. Besides, isolation rates of Campylobacter and other enteric pathogens were compared to those of past years.

Results: Campylobacter was isolated by culture in 46 of 750 (6.1 %) stool samples. Direct staining only identified three samples as Campylobacter positive and reached sensitivity and specificity values of 6.5 and 100 %, respectively. In comparison to staining-based detection rates of previous years, we observed a significant increase of Campylobacter cases in our patients.

Conclusion: Direct staining technique for Campylobacter had a very low sensitivity compared to culture. Staining methods might lead to a high rate of false negative results and an underestimation of the importance of campylobacteriosis. With the inclusion of Campylobacter culture, this pathogen became a leading cause of intestinal infection in our patient population.

Citing Articles

Whole-genome sequencing reveals changes in genomic diversity and distinctive repertoires of T3SS and T6SS effector candidates in Chilean clinical strains.

Katz A, Porte L, Weitzel T, Varela C, Munoz-Rehbein C, Ugalde J Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023; 13:1208825.

PMID: 37520433 PMC: 10374022. DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1208825.

Head-to-head comparison of CAMPYAIR aerobic culture medium versus standard microaerophilic culture for isolation from clinical samples.

Levican A, Varela C, Porte L, Weitzel T, Briceno I, Guerra F Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023; 13:1153693.

PMID: 37384222 PMC: 10293832. DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1153693.

spp. Prevalence in Santiago, Chile: A Study Based on Molecular Detection in Clinical Stool Samples from 2014 to 2019.

Porte L, Perez C, Barbe M, Varela C, Vollrath V, Legarraga P Pathogens. 2023; 12(3).

PMID: 36986425 PMC: 10057968. DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12030504.

Complete Genome Sequences of 17 Clinical Campylobacter jejuni Strains from Chile.

Bravo V, Porte L, Weitzel T, Varela C, Blondel C, Gonzalez-Escalona N Microbiol Resour Announc. 2020; 9(30).

PMID: 32703832 PMC: 7378031. DOI: 10.1128/MRA.00535-20.

Draft Whole-Genome Sequences of 51 Campylobacter jejuni and 12 Campylobacter coli Clinical Isolates from Chile.

Bravo V, Varela C, Porte L, Weitzel T, Kastanis G, Balkey M Microbiol Resour Announc. 2020; 9(18).

PMID: 32354965 PMC: 7193920. DOI: 10.1128/MRA.00072-20.

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