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

Abstract

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