Of course, this would not be appropriate for a diagnostic assay, for which such post hoc adjustments could not be made. In general, the adjusted results were in line with the conventional blood culturing method, regarded as a gold standard in sepsis diagnostics. Our data had a specificity of 98 percent and

sensitivity of 96 percent (initial sensitivity of 82 percent). Similar results namely: a specificity of 100 percent for the genus level and 97 percent for the species level using reference strains and clinical isolates were reported by a comparable method [21]. Simultaneous early detection of antimicrobial resistance markers and the causative pathogen of an infection in a Vistusertib cost clinical setting can direct the antimicrobial treatment optimally [2]. In our study, we included the methicillin resistance gene mecA in the assay. As a consequence, the mecA findings were associated with the positive findings of S. epidermidis or other CNS bacteria. Two samples had non-staphylococci bacteria

and these mecA findings were later indicated as positive for CNS (data not shown). In Finland, the prevalence of MRSA in bloodstream infections is low [25]. Therefore, no MRSA samples were included in the clinical samples. For this reason, our data demonstrate the combined detection of S. aureus and the mecA gene fragment with the clinical isolate of MRSA (Figure VX-809 solubility dmso 3). Conclusion Genotypic characterization Acetophenone of bacteria is advantageous when compared to phenotypic methods. The latter require a prolonged cultivation period for the suspected bacteria and pure bacterial cultures for various biochemical Selleckchem CH5183284 assays. The accurate detection of multiple pathogens and resistance markers simultaneously reduces the time needed to start effective antimicrobial treatment. We conclude that broad-range PCR amplification with subsequent hybridization on a microarray is a rapid diagnostic tool in identifying causative agents of bacterial infections in various specimens from normally sterile site of the body or non-cultured samples. In this

study, we presented proof-of-concept for one combination of bacterial probes but depending on the clinical application, the assay could be modified to cover different species profiles. Methods Samples Clinical isolates and reference strains for cross-hybridization studies A total of 102 clinical isolates and reference strains of various bacteria from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, VA), Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSMZ, Germany), or Helsinki University Central Hospital Laboratory (HUSLAB, Finland) were used for the cross-hybridization comparisons. Bacteria were grown in cystine lactose-electrolyte-deficient (CLED), blood, or chocolate agar plates. Culturing was performed under aerobic or anaerobic conditions depending on the bacterial species. All strains were incubated at 37°C for at least for 24 hours.