Development of a new real-time PCR system for simultaneous detection of bacteria and fungi in pathological samples

A novel system for simultaneous detection of pathogenic bacteria and fungi in pathological samples was developed using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system. This system, designated the "multi-microbial real-time PCR", has the potential to simultaneously detect 68 bacterial and 9 fungal species in a 96-well plate format. All probe-primer sets were designed to produce amplicons smaller than 210 bp using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples as input. The specificity and sensitivity of each probe-primer set were tested against DNA extracted from pure cultures of specific pathogens. The multi-microbial real-time PCR system revealed profiles of microorganism infection in lung samples collected at autopsy from 10 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common microbe detected (n=8), but with low copy numbers. High copy numbers of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were detected in the lung samples with abscess (n=6). Enterococcus faecium (n=6), Elizabethkingia meningoseptica (n=4), and Candida albicans (n=4) were also frequently detected. In addition, a latent infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was detected in one case of pneumonia. In conclusion, this multi-microbial real-time PCR system can be useful for detecting bacteria and fungi in pathological specimens from patients with uncertain diagnoses.