Simultaneous Detection of Key Bacterial Pathogens Related to Pneumonia and Meningitis Using Multiplex PCR Coupled With Mass Spectrometry

Zhang, Chi; Xiu, Leshan; Xiao, Yan; Xie, Zhengde; Ren, Lili; Peng, Junping

Culture-based microbiological methods are routinely used to determine the responsible pathogen, but a long turn-around time and low sensitivity reduce their utility in making timely decisions (Prina et al., 2015) . Even with an advanced automated bacteria identification system, nearly 20 h of processing time is needed (Bobenchik et al., 2014; Jacobs et al., 2017) . Moreover, additional time and labor are necessary for pathogens that grow slowly, such as Legionella pneumophila and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Atkinson et al., 2008; Mercante and Winchell, 2015) . To avoid the drawbacks of culture-based approaches, molecular testing has been widely applied, providing an important complement to bacterial culture. Molecular detection is faster, more sensitive, and can be automated. In addition, several emerging technologies such as multiplex real-time PCR and microarray methods are available for clinical application (Buchan and Ledeboer, 2014) .