Comparison of independent and dependent culture methods for the detection of transient bacteremia in diabetic subjects with chronic periodontitis.
BACKGROUND
Oral-derived bacteremia may occur after several dental procedures and routine daily activities. Some conditions of the oral cavity may favor episodes of bacteremia. This would be the case of patients with diabetes mellitus and periodontitis, who exhibit exacerbated gingival inflammation and may be more prone to developing oral-derived bacteremia.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the effectiveness of an independent culture method (quantitative real-time PCR- qCR) and the most commonly used method (BacT-ALERT 3D®) for the diagnosis of bacteremia.


METHODS
Blood samples were drawn from subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic periodontitis before and after apple chewing. Samples were processed by an automated blood culture system (BacT-ALERT 3D®) monitored for 15 days with suitable subculture of positive cultures. In parallel, whole DNA from blood samples was purified using a commercial kit and screened by qPCR using a universal primer set of16S rDNA for bacteria detection.


RESULTS
Blood cultures taken before apple chewing were shown to be negative by the two diagnostic methods. After chewing, two samples (11%) showed bacterial growth by BacT-ALERT 3D® whereas qPCR did not detect the presence of bacteria in any sample.


CONCLUSIONS
qPCR did not show greater effectiveness than the BacT-ALERT 3D® in the detection of bacteremia of oral origin.
Department of Stomatology, School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. acrth@usp.br.
Anna Carolina
AC
Ratto-Tespestini
Paula Juliana
PJ
Pérez-Chaparro
Giuseppe Alexandre
GA
Romito
Luciene Cristina
LC
Figueiredo
Marcelo
M
Faveri
Hilana Paula
HP
Carillo
Priscila
P
Larcher
Magda
M
Feres
D000368:Aged; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D018441:Biofilms; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D055113:Chronic Periodontitis / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
D002245:Carbon Dioxide
Bacteremia; diabetes mellitus/diagnosis; microbiology; periodontitis; real-time polymerase chain reaction