Use of an automated DNA analysis system (DARAS®) for sequence-specific recognition of Neisseria meningitidis DNA

Abstract

The sensitivity and specificity of the DARAS system makes it a useful tool for the diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis. The system is user-friendly, requires minimal hands-on time and generates data in an informative numerical format.

Prospective Study of Use of PCR Amplification and Sequencing of 16S Ribosomal DNA from Cerebrospinal Fluid for Diagnosis of Bacterial Meningitis in a Clinical Setting

“…Recently, PCR-based assays have become available to provide an early and accurate diagnosis of bacterial meningitis (2,10,12,14,22,30,33,35,39,42,45,46,51,54,60).…”

“…Some of these assays are aimed at specific pathogens of bacterial meningitis, such as Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae (10,12,46,51,54), whereas others use broad-range bacterial PCR (2,14,22,30,33,35,39,42,45,60). The use of broad-range bacterial PCR has a great advantage in that it also detects microorganisms that are found less frequently or even unknown causative agents of bacterial origin.…”

Nucleotide sequence‐based typing of bacteria and the impact of automation

“…Although laboratory automation has been available in other fields of biomedical science such as biochemistry and haematology, it has taken molecular biology, and particularly that related to microbiology, to achieve a level of uptake in medical microbiology. (11,22,27,28,30,31,(35)(36)(37) This is probably because traditional microbiology is so difficult to automate rather than the costs that are involved. However, the advent of molecular biology has provided the chance to automate certain assays that are used in modern microbiology.…”

How to Interpret a CSF—The Art and the Science

“…The use of PCR for the diagnosis of enterovirus (Ramers et al, 2000;Stellrecht et al, 2002;Guney et al, 2003;Archimbaud et al, 2004;Mohamed et al, 2004;Mulford et al, 2004), meningococcus (Saunders et al, 1997;Kotilainen et al, 1998;Seward and Towner, 2000;Taha, 2000;Bryant et al, 2004), and pneumococcus (Cherian et al, 1998;Corless et al, 2001) are already routine in many hospitals (Hall et al, 1995;Backman et al, 1999;Dicuonzo et al, 1999;Lu et al, 2000;Rantakokko-Jalava et al, 2000;Saravolatz et al, 2003). More recently, the reported high sensitivity and specificity (regardless of prior antibiotics) offered by the use of broad range 16S ribosomal DNA PCR points to the future for CSF analysis (Schuurman et al, 2004).…”