6. The value of microbiological tests in detecting bacterial and viral pathogens in cerebrospinal fluid specimens
Main Article Content
Abstract
Meningitis and encephalitis are severe infectious diseases with high mortality and risk of sequelae. The identification of causative agents could guide treatment. In this study of 1,248 patients who underwent microbiological testing of cerebrospinal fluid specimens, the proportions of patients tested by Gram stain, culture, and multiplex PCR were 16.2%, 90.1%, and 58.6%, respectively. Bacteria identified by culture included Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus suis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Listeria monocytogenes. Of the 145 patients with positive multiplex PCR results, the proportions of bacterial, viral, bacterial-viral co-infection, and multiple viral infections were 3.5%, 91.7%, 0.7%, and 4.1%, respectively. Among patients who underwent both culture and multiplex PCR, PCR increased the pathogen detection rate from 0.8% to 20.8%.
Article Details
Keywords
Cerebrospinal fluid, meningitis, encephalitis, multiplex PCR
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