Correlations of enterobacteria DNA load in venous blood determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction with vital signs and blood cell count in febrile surgical patients / 中华临床营养杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine enterobacteria DNA load in venous blood of febrile surgical patients using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR), to study the correlations between DNA load and vital signs/blood cell count, and to compare the difference between different detection methods in terms of positive rates.Methods A total of 72 blood samples were obtained for bacterial cuhure and RQ-PCR.The correlations of enterobacteria DNA load with body temperature, heart rate, while blood cell count,and percentages of leukocyte and lymphocyte were then analyzed.Results The enterobacteria positive rate determined by RQ-PCR (63.89％) was significantly higher than that by bacterial culture (9.72％) (F =4.383, P =0.036).The DNA load was significantly correlated with both body temperature and heart rate (P =0.006, r =0.323;P =0.000, r =0.411), but not with white blood cell count, percentages of leukocyte and lymphocyte, and age (P=0.438, r=0.093;P=0.825, r=0.027;P=0.451, r=-0.090;P =0.096, r =0.198).Conclusions RQ-PCR can quickly determine the enterobacteria DNA load in peripheral blood with high sensitivity.Routine blood cell count may not accurately reflect the enterobacteria DNA load in blood.Body temperature and heart rate may be influenced by various factors.