Automated detection of toxigenic Clostridium difficile in clinical samples: isothermal tcdB amplification coupled to array-based detection.

Clostridium difficile can carry a genetically variable pathogenicity locus (PaLoc), which encodes clostridial toxins A and B. In hospitals and in the community at large, this organism is increasingly identified as a pathogen. To develop a diagnostic test that combines the strengths of immunoassays (cost) and DNA amplification assays (sensitivity/specificity), we targeted a genetically stable PaLoc region, amplifying tcdB sequences and detecting them by hybridization capture.

Staph ID/R: a rapid method for determining staphylococcus species identity and detecting the mecA gene directly from positive blood culture.

Rapid diagnosis of staphylococcal bacteremia directs appropriate antimicrobial therapy, leading to improved patient outcome. We describe herein a rapid test (<75 min) that can identify the major pathogenic strains of Staphylococcus to the species level as well as the presence or absence of the methicillin resistance determinant gene, mecA. The test, Staph ID/R, combines a rapid isothermal nucleic acid amplification method, helicase-dependent amplification (HDA), with a chip-based array that produces unambiguous visible results.