Abstract
Aim: The objective of this study is to compare various Streptococcus pneumoniae identification methods. Materials & methods: In total, 1371 putative S. pneumoniae isolates were tested with three phenotypic methods and a molecular-based method targeting a virulence factor (CpsA). We assessed the sensitivity and the specificity of each method and widely used S. pneumoniae identification algorithm. Results: None of the methods or the identification algorithm used separately was able to correctly identify all S. pneumoniae isolates. Furthermore, a high rate of optochin resistance was found. Conclusions: We demonstrated the failure of the current S. pneumoniae identification methods and optochin susceptibility-based algorithm. In addition, the high rate of optochin resistance might justify the necessity of a close monitoring of optochin susceptibility.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 43-50 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Future Microbiology |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- PCR
- Streptococcus pneumoniae
- bile solubility
- colony morphology
- identification
- optochin