Diagnosis of bacteremia in patients with suspected septicemia using polymerase chain reaction method

Sepsis or blood stream infection is a clinical lethal syndrome with severe systemic inflammatory response to infection, if not treated quickly, is associated with dangerous consequences and high morbidity and mortality. The traditional and conventional method for identification of sepsis is blood culture method which is so time-consuming and long that it eliminates the possibility of rapid treatment. Although, new molecular methods, due to their high sensitivity, specificity, and speed, lead to the rapid and accurate and exact detection of bacterial sepsis within only a few hours. The aim of this study was diagnosis of bacteremia in patients with suspected sepsis using amplification of 23S rRNA gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

This cross-sectional study was performed in two clinical and analytical steps at Shahid Beheshti University Hospital in Kashan City, Iran, in twelve months from November 2016 to December 2017. The blood samples of two hundred and fifty-six patients with suspected sepsis admitted to Shahid Beheshti Hospital were studied by PCR method using specific primers of 23S rRNA gene of the bacteria.

The finding of molecular assays using PCR showed that of 256 blood samples that were collected from patients with clinical signs and symptoms of sepsis, 80 (30.2%) diagnosed with bacteremia. Of these patients diagnosed with sepsis, 46 out of 80 (57.5%) were male while 34 out of 80 (42.5%) were female. The most PCR positive results were obtained among patients with diabetes and bedsore as underlying diseases (21.3%). Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between results of molecular methods by PCR assays and history of antibiotic use. 

Overall, the results of the present study showed that the molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction using universal 23S rRNA primers is an appropriated test for diagnosis of bacteremia in blood samples of patients with suspected sepsis.