Study on application of PCR in the diagnosis of Haemophilus influenzae pneumonia / 浙江大学学报·医学版

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To study the role of Haemophilus influenzae(Hi) in pneumonia and that of PCR in the diagnosis of Hi pneumonia. METHODS: Hi genus-specific PCR, Hib type-specific PCR and selective Hi culture media were used to detect 83 samples of deep nasal pharyngeal aspiration (NPA), 51 sera from 83 children younger than 3 years with pneumonia and 37 samples of pharyngeal swabs from healthy children. RESULTS: Of 83 NPA samples, 20(24.1 %) were positive by culture, 36 (43.4 %) positive by Hi-PCR and 19 (22.9 %) positive by Hib-PCR.Six out of 51 sera were positive by Hi-PCR and Hib-PCR, but none positive by culture. Of 37 pharyngeal swabs from healthy children, 3 ( 8.1 %) were positive by culture, 6 ( 16.2 %) positive by Hi-PCR and none positive by Hib-PCR. CONCLUSION: Hib-PCR is more appropriate for detecting NPA samples from children with pneumonia because of the high rate of non-typeable Hi carriers in healthy children.