Compatibility of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis findings and clinical criteria commonly used to distinguish between true coagulase-negative staphylococcal bacteremia and contamination.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of the clinical criteria widely used to differentiate true coagulase-negative staphylococcal (CoNS) bacteremia from contamination, using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) as the reference test.


METHODS
The study sample consisted of 79 CoNS isolates recovered from cultures of blood from 38 patients. Medical charts of the patients were reviewed for demographic and clinical information. The relatedness of CoNS strains recovered from 2 or more successive blood cultures was analyzed by PFGE. Patients from whom similar strains were recovered were assumed to have true bacteremia, whereas patients from whom different strains were recovered were considered to have contaminated blood cultures. The clinical criteria comprised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveillance definitions for bloodstream infection (BSI), as well as an alternative criterion based on the presence of fever, the presence of leukocytosis, the absence of another recognized infection, and the recovery of CoNS from 2 or more successive blood cultures.


RESULTS
Nineteen (50%) of the 38 patients had bacteremia due to similar strains; the remaining patients had bacteremia due to different strains. Criterion 2a of the CDC definition for BSI had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 31.6% for distinguishing between true bacteremia and contamination. CDC criterion 2b had a sensitivity of 78.9% and a specificity of 52.6%.


CONCLUSIONS
Molecular typing correlated poorly with the clinical criteria for true bacteremia. In view of the limited applicability of clinical criteria, more studies are needed to improve them. Periodic cross-sectional studies based on PFGE findings might be useful to estimate local contamination rates in an institution, which in turn can be used to improve the accuracy of the clinical diagnosis of bacteremia.
Senger
Suheyla Serin
SS
Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey. suheylas@baskent-ank.edu.tr
Saccozza
Mine Erdenizmenli
ME
Yuce
Ayse
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000382:microbiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003030:Coagulase / Q000032:analysis* / Q000145:classification; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000145:classification*; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000472:pathogenicity
D003030:Coagulase