Rapid and Accurate Diagnosis of Infection by Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Overview

Journal Intest Res

Date 2018 Feb 10

PMID 29422805

Citations 3

Authors

Pil Hun Song

Jung Hwa Min

You Sun Kim

Soo Yeon Jo

Eun Jin Kim

Kyung Jin Lee

Jeonghun Lee

Hyun Sung

Jeong Seop Moon

Dong Hee Whang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background/aims: The incidence and severity of infection (CDI) have increased worldwide, resulting in a need for rapid and accurate diagnostic methods.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to compare CDI diagnosis methods between January 2014 and December 2014. The stool samples, which were obtained in presumptive CDI patients, were compared for their diagnostic accuracy and rapidity, including real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of toxin genes, toxin assay, and culture for .

Results: A total of 207 cases from 116 patients were enrolled in this study and 117 cases (56.5%) were diagnosed as having CDI. Among the 117 cases, the sensitivities of real-time PCR, toxin assay, and culture for were 87.2% (102 cases; 95% CI, 80.7%-92.8%), 48.7% (57 cases; 95% CI, 41.0%-59.8%), and 65.0% (76 cases; 95% CI, 60.2%-78.5%), respectively (<0.005). Notably, 34 cases (29.0%) were diagnosed with CDI by real-time PCR only. The time required to obtain results was 2.27 hours (136.62±82.51 minutes) for real-time PCR, 83.67 hours (5,020.66±3,816.38 minutes) for toxin assay, and 105.79 hours (6,347.68±3,331.46 minutes) for culture (<0.005), respectively.

Conclusions: We confirmed that real-time PCR of toxin genes is the most effective diagnostic method for accurate and early diagnosis of CDI. It also helps to diagnose hypervirulent CDI, such as ribotype 027 infection.

Citing Articles

Comparison of toxin gene expression levels and molecular typing of strains isolated from patients with diarrhea.

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Recurrent Infection: Risk Factors, Treatment, and Prevention.

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Kim D, Lee K, Park S, Kim Y, Kim E, Lee J Intest Res. 2018; 16(2):267-272.

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