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Comparative Study
. 2002 Feb;40(2):682-4.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.40.2.682-684.2002.

Rapid real-time PCR for determination of penicillin susceptibility in pneumococcal meningitis, including culture-negative cases

Angela M Kearns  1 , Clive Graham, Doreen Burdess, Jane Heatherington, Roger Freeman
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Rapid real-time PCR for determination of penicillin susceptibility in pneumococcal meningitis, including culture-negative cases

Angela M Kearns et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2002 Feb.

Abstract

A novel real-time PCR-hybridization assay was developed for the rapid (<1 h) detection of penicillin susceptibility in Streptococcus pneumoniae. When applied to 24 pneumococcal DNA-positive cerebrospinal fluid extracts, penicillin-sensitive S. pneumoniae was detected in all instances. Real-time PCR proved more sensitive than culture, microscopy, or antigen detection and provided susceptibility data even in culture-negative cases.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Illustrative melting curve traces obtained with a penicillin-sensitive and a penicillin-resistant strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae. (A) Representative results for all strains for which penicillin MICs are ≤0.06 μg/ml; (B) representative results for all strains for which penicillin MICs are ≥0.1 μg/ml. Melting peaks were derived by plotting the negative derivative of fluorescence with respect to temperature (−dF/dT).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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