Diagnostic Utility of Broad Range Bacterial 16S rRNA Gene PCR with Degradation of Human and Free Bacterial DNA in Bloodstream Infection Is More Sensitive Than an In-House Developed PCR without Degradation of Human and Free Bacterial DNA

Table 1

Sensitivity of different detection methods in whole blood and plasma measured in samples spiked with S. aureus. IHP from plasma and ST from whole blood showed equal sensitivity. Reported is the strength of visible bands in gel electrophoresis (“+” strong band present, “+/−” weak band present, and “−” no band present). The identity of bands was confirmed by sequencing (ST = SepsiTest, IHP = in-house PCR).

Final concentration of S. aureus (CFU/mL)	IHP from whole blood	IHP from plasma	ST from whole blood
0.015	−	−	−
0.15	−	−	−
0.75	−	−	+/−
1.5	−	+	+
1.5 × 10^1	−	+	+
1.5 × 10^2	−	+	+
1.5 × 10^3	+/−	+	+
1.5 × 10^4	+	+	+