Identification of Bacterial Species and Their Antibiotic-Resistant Spectrum in Sputum Specimen From the Patients With Pneumonia Via Nuclear Acid Detection Assay

Sputum specimens normally collected from the patients with pneumonia for routine microbiologic testing and extra specimens will be evaluated via nuclear acid assay developed in our laboratory. The assay will be directed at variety of both pathogens, including Streptococcus pneumoniae, Hemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter, Mycoplasma pneumonia, Chlamydia pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila, and common antibiotic-resistant genes, such as ESBLs genes, MecA, OprD. The ultimate goal is to have an available panel of highly accurate and rapid (same day) assay, which will be carried out in several hours for identification.

The extracted pathogen nucleic acid in sputum specimen will be identified by Nuclear acid detection assay with Microfluidic Pumping Chip and LAMP methods. The species of bacteria and their antibiotic-resistant gene to be detected are as listed above. As nucleic acid extracts will be archived, other pathogens can be investigated in the future if the correlated assay is developed. All results obtained by nuclear acid detection will be compared to results for conventional testing as listed above. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values will be calculated. In cases where discordant results occur, additional testing and or medical history review will be properly conducted.