JOURNALOFCLINICALMICROBIOLOGY,July2009,p.2269–2271Vol.47,No.70095-1137/09/$08.00�0doi:10.1128/JCM.00326-09Copyright©2009,AmericanSocietyforMicrobiology.AllRightsReserved.EvaluationofFiveCommercialReal-TimePCRAssaysforDetectionofMycoplasmapneumoniaeinRespiratoryTractSpecimens�A.Touati,1A.Benard,2A.BenHassen,1C.M.Be´be´ar,3*andS.Pereyre3ServicedesLaboratoires,CentreNationaldeGreffedeMoelleOsseuse,Tunis,Tunisia1;Unite´deSoutienMe´thodologiquea`laRechercheCliniqueetEpide´miologique,INSERMU897,CIC-EC7,Universite´VictorSegalenBordeaux2andCHUdeBordeaux,Bordeaux,France2;andLaboratoiredeBacte´riologieEA3671,Universite´VictorSegalenBordeaux2andCHUdeBordeaux,Bordeaux,France3Received13February2009/Returnedformodification18April2009/Accepted21April2009TheperformancesoffivecommercialTaqManreal-timePCRassaysforthedetectionofMycoplasmapneumoniaeinrespiratorytractspecimenswereevaluatedincomparisonwithanin-housereal-timePCR.Allkitsallowedpromptandspecificresults,validatedbytheuseofaninternalcontrol.TheNanogenkitshowedthebestclinicalsensitivity.Mycoplasmapneumoniaeisafrequenthumanrespiratorytractpathogenthatcauses15to20%ofcommunity-acquiredpneumoniacasesinchildrenandadults(2,16).Sincethesymptomsarenonspecific,rapidandreliablelaboratorydiag-nosisisnecessary.Thefrequentlyusedserologicalmethodsoftenallowaretrospectivediagnosisonly(4).Moreover,itwasrecentlyshownthatPCRissuperiortoserologyfordiagnosisofM.pneumoniaeduringtheearlyphaseofinfection(11).Inaddition,duetothefastidiousnatureoftheorganism,directdetectionofM.pneumoniaebycultureisdifficultandtime-consuming,andthemethodlackssufficientsensitivity(13).Consequently,PCRhasbeenincreasinglyusedforM.pneu-moniaedetection.Severalgeneshavebeentargetedforcon-ventionalamplification,includingthe16SrRNA,ATPase,andP1cytadhesingenesandrepetitiveelementslocatedwithinthelastgroup(5,8,9,15).Moreover,severalreportsdescribedreal-timeprotocolsusingTaqManprobes(3,7,12–14,18).In-housemethodsusuallyshowexcellentperformance(6)butcanbedifficultt...
