Diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis in Brazil by use of PCR.

Fever and a petechial rash are strongly associated with meningococcal disease in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Early antibiotic therapy is indicated and, consequently, a reduction of confirmed cases by culture, Gram stain, and latex agglutination test is expected. We evaluated a multiplex PCR assay to identify Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae in biological samples from cases of non-culture proven meningitis with a petechial rash at presentation.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae isolates collected from 4 centers in Brazil (1990-2003).

Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined for 174 Haemophilus influenzae strains collected from patients with infection before and after vaccination against Hib (1990-1999 and 2000-2003, respectively) from 4 public health -laboratories in 3 Brazilian states. All strains were characterized for serotype and beta-lactamase production and in vitro activity of the following antimicrobial agents: -ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, ceftriaxone, rifampin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX). Minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined according to the guidelines of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards.

Rapid detection of Neisseria meningitidis in cerebrospinal fluid by one-step polymerase chain reaction of the nspA gene.

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol for the rapid detection of meningococcal DNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was developed and optimized. A set of primers based on Neisseria surface protein A (nspA) gene sequence was designed to amplify a 481-bp product specific for N. meningitidis.