IEVEN M, LOENS K, URSI D, GOOSSENS H; Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (42nd : 2002 : San Diego, Calif.).

Abstr Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2002 Sep 27-30; 42: abstract no. D-2014.

University of Antwerp, Center for Molecular Diagnostics, University Hospital Antwerp, Edegem, Belgium

BACKGROUND: A quality control for the detection of C. pneumoniae (C. pn) by nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) was organized to assess the ability of laboratories to detect C. pn in respiratory specimens. METHODS: Each panel consisted of 8 negative and 12 positive samples of either physiological saline or bronchoalveolar (BAL) fluid, spiked with C. pn at concentrations of 4.9 (n=3), 49 (n=6), 490 (n=3) inclusion forming units (IFU)/0.1 ml. They were sent to 11 Belgian laboratories. RESULTS: Techniques used were heterogeneous. All laboratories used in house developed methods, and most of them applied a real time amplification assay. There was no apparent relation between the sensitivity of the detection and the methods used. About half of the laboratories used an internal control to monitor inhibition. All labs worked in separate rooms. dUTP/UDG was used in most laboratories. Except for one participant, all reported the use of a negative and positive control. There were no differences between the results obtained with suspensions prepared in saline or in BAL fluid. Overall 91.7% of correct results were reported. There were no false positive results. There was a correlation between the correct results and the concentration of C. pn. For the samples with 490, 49 or 4.9 IFU/0.1 ml, correct results were 100%, 92.0% and 61.1% respectively. The number of labs producing 0, 1 or 2 false negatives were 3, 4 and 2 respectively. The labs with 1 or 2 false negative results had obtained these on the samples with lowest concentration of C. pn. One lab missed all weakly positive samples and 5/6 median positive samples. No lab missed any of the strongly positive samples. CONCLUSIONS: The overall results of this first quality assessment of the molecular detection of C. pneumoniae are satisfactory for 10/11 participating laboratories.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Bacteriological Techniques
• Belgium
• Biological Assay
• Chlamydophila pneumoniae
• Evaluation Studies
• Hematologic Tests
• Laboratories
• Quality Control
• Sensitivity and Specificity
• methods

Other ID:

• GWAIDS0027845

UI: 102267469

From Meeting Abstracts