Clinical value of droplet digital PCR in rapid diagnosis of invasive fungal infection in neonates / 中国当代儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the clinical value of droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) in rapid and accurate diagnosis of invasive fungal infection (IFI) in neonates.@*METHODS@#The highly conserved sequence of fungi 18S RNA was selected as the target sequence, and primers were designed to establish a ddPCR fungal detection system. Blood samples were collected from 83 neonates with high-risk factors for IFI and/or related clinical symptoms in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a hospital in Shenzhen, China. Blood culture and ddPCR were used for fungal detection.@*RESULTS@#The ddPCR fungal detection system had a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 3.2 copies/μL, and had a good reproducibility. Among the 22 blood samples from neonates with a confirmed or clinical diagnosis of IFI, 19 were detected positive by ddPCR. Among the 61 blood samples from neonates who were suspected of IFI or had no IFI, 2 were detected positive by ddPCR.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The ddPCR technique can be used for the detection of neonatal IFI and is a promising tool for the screening and even diagnosis of neonatal IFI.