Pleural fluid nucleic acid testing enhances pneumococcal surveillance in children

Roxanne E. Strachan, Anita Cornelius, Gwendolyn L. Gilbert, Tanya Gulliver, Andrew Martin, Tim McDonald, Gillian Nixon, Rob Roseby, Sarath Ranganathan, Hiran Selvadurai, Greg Smith, Manuel Soto-Martinez, Sadasivam Suresh, Laurel Teoh, Kiran Thapa, Claire E. Wainwright, Adam Jaffé*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background and objective: National surveillance of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) includes serotyping Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) isolates from sterile site cultures. PCR is more sensitive and can identify more SP serotypes (STs) in culture-negative samples. The aim of this study was to determine whether enhanced surveillance of childhood empyema, using PCR, provides additional serotype information compared with conventional surveillance. Methods: Pleural fluid (PF) from children with empyema were cultured and tested by PCR to identify SP, targeting the autolysin gene (lytA). Multiplex PCR-based reverse line blot assay was used to identify SP STs. Corresponding IPD surveillance and serotype data were obtained from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). Results: Eighty-nine children with empyema, aged ≤16 years, were recruited between April 2008 and March 2009, inclusive. SP was isolated from 5/84 (5.9%) PF cultures and by PCR in 43/79 (54.4%) PF samples.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)114-119
Number of pages6
JournalRespirology
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2012
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Pleural fluid nucleic acid testing enhances pneumococcal surveillance in children'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this