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Volume 8, Number 10—October 2002
Letter

Evaluation and Validation of a Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay for Rapid Identification of Bacillus anthracis Supplement

Main Article

Table 4

Results of real-time PCR and culture testing performed on 142 clinical specimens collected from nine patients with inhalational anthraxa

Antimicrobial drug therapy
Patient no.b Specimen type Post therapy Interval (days) Culture Real-time PCR
1 Pleural fluidc Yes 3 Negative Positive
Serumc Yes 3 Negative Negative
Serumc Yes 3 Not done Negative
Pleural fluidc Yes 4 Not done Positive
Pleural fluidc Yes 4 Negative Positive
Bloodc Yes 4 Not done Negative
Right lung tissue (frozen)c Yes 4 Not done Negative
Heart bloodc Yes 4 Not done Negative
Pericardial fluidc Yes 4 Not done Positive
 2c Blood (5) Not done Positive
Blood (18) Not done Negative
Blood (5) Negative Positive
Blood (21) Negative Negative
Serum (2) Not done Positive
Serum (14) Not done Negative
Serum (2) Negative Positive
Serum (13) Negative Negative
Pleural fluid (3) Not done Positive
Pleural fluid (5) Negative Positive
Pleural fluid (1) Negative Negative
Body fluid (1) Negative Negative
Respiratory wash (1) Negative Positive
Sputum (1) Not done Negative
3 Blood culture No -1 Negative Positive
5 Blood culture No 0 Positive Positive
Blood culture No 0 Positive Positive
6 Blood culture No 0 Positive Positive
8 Blood Yes .5 Negative Positive
Blood Yes .5 Negative Positive
Serum Yes .5 Negative Positive
Serum Yes 2 Negative Negative
Pleural fluid Yes 2 Negative Positive
Pleural fluid Yes 2 Negative Positive
Blood Yes 37 Negative Negative
9 Blood Yes 2 Negative Negative
Blood Yes 2 Negative Negative
10 Pleural fluid Yes 1 Negative Positive
Pleural fluid Yes 1 Negative Positive
Blood Yes 1 Negative Positive
Thioglycolate brothc Yes 3 Negative Negative
CSFc Yes 3 Negative Positive
Lung tissue (frozen)c Yes 3 Negative Positive
Lymph node tissue (frozen)c Yes 3 Negative Positive
11 Blood culture No -1 Positive Positive
Blood culture No -1 Positive Positive
Sputum Yes 2 Negative Positive
Body fluid/pleural fluid Yes 2 Not done Positive
Blood Yes 2 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Liver tissue (frozen)c Yes 4 Negative Negative
Lymph node tissue (frozen)c Yes 4 Negative Positive
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Pleural fluidc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Lung tissue (frozen)c Yes 4 Negative Negative
Spleen tissue (frozen)c Yes 4 Negative Negative
Bloodc Yes 4 Negative Negative
Pleural fluidc Yes 4 Negative Negative

aPCR, polymerase chain reaction
bPatients 1–10 described in Jernigan et al. (1) and patient 11 in Barakat et al. (5).
cSamples collected postmortem.
dDue to the large number of samples from patient #2, samples were summarized by type and result in Figure.

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References
  1. Jernigan  JA, Stephens  DS, Ashford  DA, Omenaca  C, Topiel  MS, Galbraith  M, Bioterrorism-related inhalational anthrax: the first 10 cases reported in the United States. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001;7:933–44.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Update: investigation of anthrax associated with intentional exposure and interim public health guidelines, 2001. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2001;50:889–93.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Update: investigation of bioterrorism-related anthrax and adverse events from antimicrobial prophylaxis, 2001. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2001;50:973–6.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Update: investigation of bioterrorism-related inhalational anthrax—Connecticut, 2001. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2001;50:1049–51.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Barakat  LA, Quentzel  HL, Jernigan  JA, Kirschke  DL, Griffith  K, Spear  SM, Fatal inhalational anthrax in a 94-year-old Connecticut woman. JAMA. 2002;287:863–8. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Gallagher  TC, Strober  BE. Cutaneous Bacillus anthracis infection. N Engl J Med. 2001;345:1646–7. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. Logan  NA, Turnbull  PC. Bacillus and recently derived genera. In: Murray PR, editor. Manual of clinical microbiology. Washington (DC): ASM Press; 2001. p. 357–69.

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Page updated: July 19, 2010
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