Comparing culture and molecular methods for the identification of microorganisms involved in necrotizing soft tissue infections

Table 2 Microorganisms detected by culture methods in surgical and other (often previous) samples from NSTI patients

	Other samples	Surgical samples
Patient	Culture	Sample	Culture	Molecular methods
1	-	A	Streptococcus pyogenes	✓
		B	Streptococcus pyogenes	✓
		C	Streptococcus pyogenes	✓
		D	Streptococcus pyogenes	✓
2	Streptococcus pyogenes (blood culture)	A	Streptococcus pyogenes	✓
2	Streptococcus pyogenes (blood culture)	B	Streptococcus pyogenes	✓
3	No growth	A	Acinetobacter baumannii (Gram positive cocci in chains by light microscopy)	✓^a
4	Streptococcus pyogenes and CNS (Gram negative rods by light microscopy)	A	Non-hemolytic streptococci	✓
4		B	No growth	^a
5	-	A	Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium paraputrificum	✓^a
6	Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterobacteriaceae	A	Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli	✓^a
7	Fusobacterium necrophorum	A	Fungus	✓^a
7	Fusobacterium necrophorum	B	No growth	^a
8	Streptococcus pneumoniae	A	Streptococcus pneumoniae	✓
		B	Streptococcus pneumoniae	✓
		C	No growth	^a
9	Streptococcus pyogenes	A	Streptococcus pyogenes	✓
9	Streptococcus pyogenes	B	Streptococcus pyogenes	✓
10	Staphylococcus aureus	A	No growth	✓
10	Staphylococcus aureus	B	No growth	✓

In many cases the findings by culture were confirmed by the molecular methods (✓), or the molecular methods identified additional microorganisms (^a). Text in brackets indicate relevant findings by light microscopy
-Indicates that no previous samples were taken for culture

ISSN: 1471-2334