Withdrawn Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Scientific Meeting 2013

Evaluation of a Multiplex PCR for the detection of bacterial and parasitic pathogens in clinical stool samples compared with conventional methods (#270)

Ian Cooper 1 , Renu Vohra 1 , Peter O'Loughlin 1 , Phillip Webster 1 , Teresa Bruce 1 , Jasmine Sergent 1
  1. QML Pathology, Mansfield, QLD, Australia

The detection of bacterial and parasitic enteric pathogens in stool specimens by conventional culture and microscopy is labour intensive and time-consuming. Molecular methods provide a means for sensitive and rapid detection of enteric pathogens with improved performance and turnaround time. QML Pathology evaluated a real time Multiplex PCR for the detection of nine major enteric pathogens: Salmonella sp, Campylobacter sp, Shigella sp, Yersinia sp, Giardia sp, Entameoba histolytica, Dientameoba sp, Blastocystis sp and Cryptosporidium sp for use in the routine laboratory practice and compared it with conventional methods for detecting bacterial and parasitic pathogens. In this poster, we present the results of analysis of the real time multiplex PCR on retrospective and prospective clinical stool specimens submitted to the laboratory. We also compared the sensitivity and specificity of the Multiplex PCR assay with conventional methods for detecting parasites and bacteria. The multiplex PCR demonstrated greater sensitivity and generated results faster in comparison to conventional methods. We saw an increase in the detection rate of all targeted pathogens by Multiplex PCR.