Clinical evaluation of rapid identification of bacteria from positive-testing blood culture bottles by internal transcribed spacer PCR]

Delays in diagnosis and initiation of treatment of severe infections such as sepsis greatly influence patient prognosis. Our laboratory introduced rapid identification of bacterial species by PCR for positive blood culture samples as a routine laboratory test since April 2008. We extracted DNA directly from positive blood culture bottles and amplified the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of pathogenic microorganisms by PCR in order to identify bacterial species from electrophoretic patterns of PCR products. Of 167 strains from 167 samples excluding three samples with polymicrobial organisms, 144 strains (86.2%) were correctly identified at species level and 17 strains (10.2%) at genus level. The time required between DNA extraction and bacterial identification was about one and one-half hours. In patients with MRSA sepsis, the time of initiation of treatments such as administration of anti-MRSA drugs and intravascular catheter removal has clearly become earlier with the introduction of ITS-PCR, resulting decreased mortality from 35.0% to 16.0%. Rapid identification of pathogens directly from blood culture bottles by ITS-PCR seems to be useful for appropriate treatment of severe infectious diseases.