A comparison of conventional and molecular microbiology in detecting differences in pneumococcal colonization in healthy children and children with upper respiratory illness

• Published in: European journal of pediatrics Vol. 169; no. 10; pp. 1221 - 1225
• Main Authors: Ogami, Masashi, Hotomi, Muneki, Togawa, Akihisa, Yamanaka, Noboru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.10.2010; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Bacterial diseases; Biological and medical sciences; Chi-Square Distribution; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; General aspects; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infant; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nasopharynx - microbiology; Original Paper; Pediatrics; Pneumococcal Infections - microbiology; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Respiratory Tract Infections - microbiology; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Serotyping - methods; Staphylococcal infections, streptococcal infections, pneumococcal infections; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Streptococcus pneumoniae - classification; Nasopharyngeal colonization; Real-time polymerase chain reaction; Serotype distribution; Pediatrics; Microbiology; Upper respiratory tract; Nasopharynx; Streptococcal infection; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Nasopharyngeal; Serotype; Child; Pneumococcal infection; Human; Typing; Respiratory disease; Medical screening; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Infection; Streptococcaceae; Distribution; Bacteriosis; Molecular biology; Colonization; Comparative study; Real time polymerase chain reaction
• ISSN: 0340-6199; 1432-1076
• DOI: 10.1007/s00431-010-1208-5

Conventional microbiology (CM) and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to determine rate and serotype of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal colonization in healthy children and children with upper respiratory illnesses (URI). One hundred and thirty-six healthy children and 79 children with URI were evaluated. Pneumococcal colonization was detected more often by real-time PCR than CM in healthy children (50% vs. 24%, p  ≤ 0.001), while detection rates were comparable by CM and real-time PCR in children with URI (61% vs. 65%, NS). Pneumococcal serotypes were identified 2.3 times more often in healthy children by real-time PCR than CM, p  ≤ 0.001 and 1.5 times more often in children with URI by PCR than CM, p  = 0.01. Real-time PCR was also more sensitive in detecting multiple strains rather than CM in both healthy ( p  = 0.001) and children with URI ( p  ≤ 0.001). Overall real-time PCR proved superior to CM in detection and serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae . Future studies should incorporate real-time PCR technology along with CM to fully understand the epidemiology of colonization in health and illness.