title: SeptiFast for diagnosis of sepsis in severely ill patients from a Brazilian hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test and validate a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction method for bloodstream infections, as well as to compare the results with conventional blood culture.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 114 consecutive patients with clinical evidence of sepsis were submitted to blood culture and LightCycler™ SeptiFast tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More positive specimens (23; 20.2%) were detected using the LightCycler™ SeptiFast than the blood culture (17; 14.9%), with an agreement of 86.8%. Discordant results were seen in four patients positive only to blood culture, ten positive only to LightCycler™ SeptiFast and one to different pathogens found by each test. Infections with microorganisms detected only using blood culture reassured the need to perform both tests. The mean time to results for blood culture was 5 days for negative and 3.5 days for positive results. LightCycler™ SeptiFast results were achieved in less than 8 hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LightCycler™ SeptiFast showed a high potential as a test to be carried out concomitantly with blood culture for sepsis diagnosis in severely ill patients. This test allowed a faster diagnosis of bacterial and fungal infections that helped to reduce hospital stay and to control the use of antibiotics. LightCycler™ SeptiFast can also eventually detect microorganism and infections that are hardly detected by blood culture, especially Candida non-albicans infections.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sitnik
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre Rodrigues
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Marra
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberta Cardoso
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Petroni
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ozires Pereira Santos
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marinês Dalla Valle
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Martino
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jacyr
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pasternak
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Oscar Fernando Pavão dos
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cristóvão Luis Pitangueira
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Mangueira
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: João Renato Rebello
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Pinho
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D001938:Brazil; D016638:Critical Illness; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial