Target sequences will be presented naturally in the bacteria in a concentration high enough to enable visual detection

of the specific selleck inhibitor fluorescent signal. FISH was first applied for detection of prokaryotes Selleckchem Talazoparib by environmental biologists for analysis of microbial communities. The method was soon introduced to medical microbiology and ever since used in various fields of diagnostics of human infectious diseases, with emphasis on situations when a speedy identification is crucial or the pathogen is difficult to culture: sepsis, meningitis, endocarditis, respiratory tract infections, especially those of cystic fibrosis patients, screening for intrapartum Streptococcus agalactiae carriage, diagnosis of zoonotic infections such as those caused by Brucella

and Francisella[11–17]. Miacom® diagnostics GmbH has combined the classical FISH technology with the usage of fluorescently labelled DNA-molecular beacons as probes, making it an easy procedure known as the beacon-based FISH (bbFISH®) technology [18]. GDC0449 It is now possible, for the first time, to use specific probes against a wide variety of clinically relevant bacteria working directly on blood culture. The probes enter the cells, hybridize to their specific targets, making the cells visible using a fluorescence microscope. In order to assess the possible benefits of the introduction of such technology into the laboratory routine, we evaluated in the present study the performance of the bbFISH® (hemoFISH® Gram positive and hemoFISH® Gram negative) in comparison to the conventional culture of bacteria from positive blood culture vials in febrile patients. The study

was conducted independently in two Italian centers: Polyclinic of Tor Vergata in Rome and Polyclinic Ospedale G.B. Rossi in Verona. We have also examined the hemoFISH® test and the conventional identification assay’s total turnaround time (TAT) performance. Results Blood culture results In this study 558 consecutive samples were tested: 377 positive and 181 negative. The Hospital of Verona processed 243 blood culture (88 negative and 155 positive) while the Hospital in Rome analysed a total of 315 blood cultures (93 negative and 222 positive). 393 were the isolates (239 Gram-positive and 153 Gram-negative and one yeast) identified by conventional system (Vitek Y-27632 2HCl 2 System), including those from 16 mixed blood cultures (those which contain two isolates). hemoFISH® performances The test works equally well in both centers being the overall performances substantially similar. The hemoFISH® test correctly identified 364/393 isolates, showing an overall agreement of 92.6% with the culture method. If the performances were considered referred to the specimens (not the isolates) 355/377 positive specimens were identified by hemoFISH® (94.16%). The sensitivity, the specificity the PPV and NPV were 94.16, 100, 100 and 89.16, respectively.