Bacteriology and Infectious Diseases

Biography

Biography: Brian Arturo Mondeja Rodríguez

Abstract

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is an important respiratory pathogen in community-acquired-pneumonia. At date, in the diagnosis of pediatric infections, PCR and serology are the most used methods. However, culture continue being the reference method but is complex and time consumer. The aims of this work is the validation, clinical and microbiological assessment of a novel commercial culture-based kit ARI WELL-D-ONE for the detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in Cuban pediatric patients with respiratory tract infections. Samples were collected from March to June of 2015 at the “Juan M. Marquez” Hospital in Havana City, from pediatric patients with respiratory illness. Respiratory samples from 71 patients were investigated at the same time using M. pneumoniae-PCR, culture and ARI WELL-kit. A total concordance in M. pneumoniae-detection was recorded among the three performed methods. M. pneumoniae was detected and isolated in 7 % (5/71) of patients. ARI WELL-D-ONE showed a 100 % of specificity and sensibility in the identification and isolation of M. pneumoniae from infected clinical samples. Successful re-isolation of M. pneumoniae clinical strains were obtained by conventional culture in Mycoplasma- media from mycoplasmas-specific kit wells, confirmed the utility of the kit for the recuperation of clinical strains for other laboratory procedures. All the M. pneumoniae infected patients have a clinical diagnosis of atypical-pneumonia or uncontrolled-asthma manifestation, suggesting a typical respiratory mycoplasmosis. In conclusion, the results suggest the feasibility of the new kit for mycoplasma microbiological diagnosis in medical centers without access to PCR-based tests.