Rapid identification of bacteria, mecA and van genes from blood cultures

The Genotype technology, a quick molecular genetic assay based on DNA multiplex amplification with biotinylated primers followed by hybridization to membrane bound probes, complies with the requirements for a fast diagnosis of sepsis. We evaluated the new Genotype BC Gram-negative and Gram-positive test kits (Hain Life Science, Germany) which respectively allow for the identification of 15 species of Gram-negative (GN) rods, and the identification of 17 Gram-positive (GP) bacteria species together with the determination of methicillin and vancomycin resistance (mecA and van genes). The study was performed on 60 positive blood cultures from BacT/ALERT bottles (aerobic, anaerobic and pediatric bottles). First, a Gram stain was carried out to select between Genotype BC GP or GN test, then identification were performed by the Genotype BC tests and by biochemical conventional tests after subculture and phenotypic susceptibility determination. The operating procedure was very easy to carry out and required a small amount of starting material (5 to 10 microL of blood culture). The results were available within 4.5 hours. For all the blood cultures, the Genotype BC results correlated with the biochemical identification and phenotypic antibiotics susceptibility. According to our results, this DNA strip technology based assay can easily be incorporated into routine diagnosis.