Back to Search
Start Over
Issues Associated with and Recommendations for Using PCR To Detect Outbreaks of Pertussis
- Source :
- Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 40:2801-2805
- Publication Year :
- 2002
- Publisher :
- American Society for Microbiology, 2002.
-
Abstract
- Two outbreaks of respiratory tract illness associated with prolonged cough occurring in 1998 and 1999 in New York State were investigated. A PCR test for Bordetella pertussis was primarily used by a private laboratory to confirm 680 pertussis cases. Several clinical specimens had positive culture results for B. pertussis during both outbreaks, which confirmed that B. pertussis was circulating during the outbreaks. However, testing by the New York State Department of Health reference laboratory suggested that some of the PCR results may have been falsely positive. In addition, features of the outbreak that suggested that B. pertussis may not have been the primary agent of infection included a low attack rate among incompletely vaccinated children and a significant amount of illness among patients testing PCR negative for B. pertussis . These investigations highlight the importance of appropriate clinical laboratory quality assurance programs, of the limitations of the PCR test, and of interpreting laboratory results in context of clinical disease.
- Subjects :
- DNA, Bacterial
Quality Control
Microbiology (medical)
Bordetella pertussis
Whooping Cough
Attack rate
New York
Context (language use)
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Disease Outbreaks
Specimen Handling
Pcr test
Humans
Medicine
False Positive Reactions
Whooping cough
biology
business.industry
Outbreak
Bacteriology
Reference Standards
Clinical disease
biology.organism_classification
Laboratory results
medicine.disease
Child, Preschool
Immunology
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 1098660X and 00951137
- Volume :
- 40
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Clinical Microbiology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....dbfa6b08fcdbbbc59dae9954a23cb9a9