Neonatal Bacterial Sepsis: Blood Culture Versus 16S rRNA Detection
Kiran Gaikwad, Nilofer Mujawar
Abstract
Background: Diagnosis of neonatal sepsis remains a major challenge in neonatal medicine. Blood culture serves as the gold standard for the diagnosis of bacterial sepsis. However, it takes 48 to 72 hours for the results, with the sensitivity of the test being low. The polymerase chain reaction–based detection of 16S rRNA has reduced the laboratory turnaround time and has good sensitivity.
Aim: To diagnose neonatal bacterial sepsis by 16S rRNA gene amplification and blood culture and compare the results
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a level 3 NICU of NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital (Nagpur, Maharashtra, India) from March 2016 to September 2017. In this study, we compared 16S rRNA and blood culture positivity in neonates with suspected sepsis.
Results: The sensitivity of 16S rRNA was 100%, the specificity was 41.18%, the odds ratio was 21, and the 95% CI was 3.37 to 868.45. In the control group, the test showed sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 77.27% for 16S rRNA.
Conclusion: Although the 16S rRNA detection has a good sensitivity in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis, its specificity is less. Thus, it cannot be used as a confirmatory test. Nevertheless, it can serve as a good screening test.
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