[Use of polymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis of central nervous system infections]

In the present work, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and his variants RT-PCR and Multiplex PCR were applied for the detection of specific sequences of Enterovirus, Human Herpes viruses (Herpes simple virus, Human Herpes virus type 6, Cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr virus, and Varicella Zoster), Human Immunodeficiency virus, Toxoplasma gondii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in patients' cohorts grouped by medical suspicion of meningoencephalitis. Of 326 samples of processed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), 93 samples (28.5%) were positive for the different infectious agents. In the group of patients with clinical diagnosis of viral meningoencephalitis (n=212), there was obtained a whole of 73 positive samples (34.4%), of which 37 patients were positive to Enterovirus (50.7%), 19 were positive to VHS (26%) and 10 patients (13.7%) were positive to CMV. Other viral agents as VZV, EBV and HVH6 were detected in minor frequency. The 114 remaining samples were analyzed applying specific PCR to each pathogen for strict medical indication, being able to detect the presence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (40%), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (40%), Toxoplasma gondii (14%) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (12%) in CSF samples. The results obtained in this study demonstrate the convenience of the application of the molecular assays in the laboratory diagnosis of the meningoencefalitis of different etiology. Besides this, it is also a very valuable tool for the clinical management of the patients and for the execution of the epidemiological studies.