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. 2021 Jan;99(1):115183.
doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2020.115183. Epub 2020 Aug 21.

Performance of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction panel for identifying bacterial pathogens causing pneumonia in critically ill patients with COVID-19

François Caméléna  1 , Anne-Clotilde Moy  2 , Emmanuel Dudoignon  3 , Thibaut Poncin  1 , Benjamin Deniau  3 , Lucie Guillemet  2 , Jérôme Le Goff  4 , Mélissa Budoo  4 , Mourad Benyamina  2 , Maïté Chaussard  2 , Maxime Coutrot  2 , Matthieu Lafaurie  5 , Benoît Plaud  3 , Alexandre Mebazaa  3 , François Depret  3 , Béatrice Berçot  6
Affiliations

Performance of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction panel for identifying bacterial pathogens causing pneumonia in critically ill patients with COVID-19

François Caméléna et al. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

The FilmArray® Pneumonia Plus (FA-PP) panel can provide rapid identifications and semiquantitative results for many pathogens. We performed a prospective single-center study in 43 critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in which we performed 96 FA-PP tests and cultures of blind bronchoalveolar lavage (BBAL). FA-PP detected 1 or more pathogens in 32% (31/96 of samples), whereas culture methods detected at least 1 pathogen in 35% (34/96 of samples). The most prevalent bacteria detected were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 14) and Staphylococcus aureus (n = 11) on both FA-PP and culture. The FA-PP results from BBAL in critically ill patients with COVID-19 were consistent with bacterial culture findings for bacteria present in the FA-PP panel, showing sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value of 95%, 99%, 82%, and 100%, respectively. Median turnaround time for FA-PP was 5.5 h, which was significantly shorter than for standard culture (26 h) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing results (57 h).

Keywords: Bacterial pneumonia; FilmArray Pneumonia Plus; Rapid diagnostics; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests F.C. received conference invitations from BioMérieux.

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