We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Optimized molecular resolution of cross-contamination alerts in clinical mycobacteriology laboratories.
- Authors
Martín, Ana; Herranz, Marta; Martínez Lirola, Miguel; Fernández Fernández, Rosa; Bouza, Emilio; García de Viedma, Darío
- Abstract
Background: The phenomenon of misdiagnosing tuberculosis (TB) by laboratory cross-contamination when culturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) has been widely reported and it has an obvious clinical, therapeutic and social impact. The final confirmation of a cross-contamination event requires the molecular identification of the same MTB strain cultured from both the potential source of the contamination and from the false-positive candidate. The molecular tool usually applied in this context is IS6110-RFLP which takes a long time to provide an answer, usually longer than is acceptable for microbiologists and clinicians to make decisions. Our purpose in this study is to evaluate a novel PCR-based method, MIRU-VNTR as an alternative to assure a rapid and optimized analysis of cross-contamination alerts. Results: MIRU-VNTR was prospectively compared with IS6110-RFLP for clarifying 19 alerts of false positivity from other laboratories. MIRU-VNTR highly correlated with IS6110-RFLP, reduced the response time by 27 days and clarified six alerts unresolved by RFLP. Additionally, MIRU-VNTR revealed complex situations such as contamination events involving polyclonal isolates and a false-positive case due to the simultaneous cross-contamination from two independent sources. Conclusion: Unlike standard RFLP-based genotyping, MIRU-VNTR i) could help reduce the impact of a false positive diagnosis of TB, ii) increased the number of events that could be solved and iii) revealed the complexity of some cross-contamination events that could not be dissected by IS6110-RFLP.
- Subjects
MICROBIAL contamination; MICROBIAL cultures; MYCOBACTERIUM tuberculosis; BACTERIAL typing; BACTERIOLOGICAL laboratories; DIAGNOSIS
- Publication
BMC Microbiology, 2008, Vol 8, p1
- ISSN
1471-2180
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1186/1471-2180-8-30