Improved diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii infection by polymerase chain reaction on induced sputum and blood

Detection of Pneumocystis carinii by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) may facilitate non-invasive diagnosis of P carinii pneumonia and study of its epidemiology. We have compared the sensitivity and specificity of two PCR methods with those of conventional staining for detection of P carinii in i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 1992-07, Vol.340 (8813), p.203-206
Main Authors: Lipschik, G.Y., Andrawis, V.A., Ognibene, F.P., Kovacs, J.A., Gill, V.J., Nelson, N.A., Lundgren, J.D., Nielsen, J.O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacterial diseases
Base Sequence
Biological and medical sciences
Blood
Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid - microbiology
Epidemiology
False Positive Reactions
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Medical research
Medical sciences
Molecular Sequence Data
Pneumocystis - genetics
Pneumocystis - isolation & purification
Pneumonia
Pneumonia, Pneumocystis - blood
Pneumonia, Pneumocystis - diagnosis
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prospective Studies
Rats
Sputum - microbiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Detection of Pneumocystis carinii by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) may facilitate non-invasive diagnosis of P carinii pneumonia and study of its epidemiology. We have compared the sensitivity and specificity of two PCR methods with those of conventional staining for detection of P carinii in induced sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL), and blood. Of 71 sputum samples, 17 were from patients with microbiologically confirmed P carinii pneumonia. A nested PCR method correctly identified the presence of P carinii in all 17 (100% sensitive, 95% confidence interval [Cl] 81-100%) and found no organisms in 50 of 54 microbiologically negative samples (93% specific, 95% Cl 82-98%). PCR with a single primer pair was 71% sensitive (44-90%) and 94% specific (85-99%). The sensitivity of conventional staining methods (direct and indirect fluorescence antibody and toluidine-blue-O tests) was significantly less (38-53%) than that of nested PCR (p
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/0140-6736(92)90469-J