title: A comparison of conventional and molecular microbiology in detecting differences in pneumococcal colonization in healthy children and children with upper respiratory illness.
abstract: Conventional microbiology (CM) and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to determine rate and serotype of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal colonization in healthy children and children with upper respiratory illnesses (URI). One hundred and thirty-six healthy children and 79 children with URI were evaluated. Pneumococcal colonization was detected more often by real-time PCR than CM in healthy children (50% vs. 24%, p <or= 0.001), while detection rates were comparable by CM and real-time PCR in children with URI (61% vs. 65%, NS). Pneumococcal serotypes were identified 2.3 times more often in healthy children by real-time PCR than CM, p <or= 0.001 and 1.5 times more often in children with URI by PCR than CM, p = 0.01. Real-time PCR was also more sensitive in detecting multiple strains rather than CM in both healthy (p = 0.001) and children with URI (p <or= 0.001). Overall real-time PCR proved superior to CM in detection and serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Future studies should incorporate real-time PCR technology along with CM to fully understand the epidemiology of colonization in health and illness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama-shi, Wakayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogami
authors.forename: Muneki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hotomi
authors.forename: Akihisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Togawa
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012703:Serotyping / Q000379:methods*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000145:classification*