Rapid, Quantitative, PCR-Based Detection Of Staphylococcus Aureus in Burn Sepsis Patients

Burn patients have lost their primary barrier to microorganism invasion and therefore are continually and chronically exposed to pathogens. Ninety-seven percent of patients with >20% total body surface area (TBSA) burns develop septicemia; predominantly involving gram positive cocci including MRSA and methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. Blood culture (BC) is the traditional detection method for septicemia. However, antibiotics and inadequate sample volumes can impair detection by BC and results can take 3-4 days.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) represents a potential adjunct to BC. Pathogens are detected in a growth-independent manner by targeting their genetic make-up. Quantitative determining of pathogen DNA using PCR could aid in determining antimicrobial drug therapy efficacy by providing results on the same testing day as opposed to 3-4 days with BC. PCR may also detect persistent infections during antimicrobial therapy when culture samples are inhibited.

The aims of this study are:(1)to correlate quantitative PCR results with that of the BC; (2) to test the clinical application of PCR results with clinical outcomes of treatment of presumptive diagnosis of staphylococcal sepsis.