BACTEREMIA SCREENING OF CHILDREN AND THE FIRST DETECTION OF COLIFORMS IN BLOOD USING PCR TARGETING A PARTIAL SEQUENCE OF THE LacZ GENE

ABSTRACT Blood samples were collected from 135 children under 11years of age suspected with fever and sepsis in 2013, obtained from Welfare Teaching Hospital/Medical City/Baghdad. The blood samples were tested for bacteremia using conventional blood culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the 16s rRNA and the Lac Z gene. The results indicated that 69 (51.1% of the 135 screened) blood samples show positive cultures consisting of 55 (79.7% out of 69) gram-positive bacterial isolates and 14 (20.3% out of 69) gram negative isolates. Enterobacter spp was detected in 8 patients (11.6% out of 69, E. coli detected in 5 (7.2% out of 69 patients), Klebsiella pneumoniae detected in 1 (1.5% out of 69). All blood samples tested, 74 (54.8% out of 135) showed positive signals by PCR using the broad range primer targeting the 16s rRNA. Gram positive bacteria was detected in 60 samples (81% out of 74), whereas Gram negative bacteria was detected in 14 samples (19%out of 74). This study shows the potential approach of the PCR targeting the 16S rRNA gene and LacZ gene amplification for rapid detection of coliforms in blood in children