Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17537936›Full record

ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2007

Evaluation and improvement of real-time PCR assays targeting lytA, ply, and psaA genes for detection of pneumococcal DNA.

Maria da Gloria S Carvalho, Maria Lucia Tondella, Karen McCaustland, Luciana Weidlich, Lesley McGee, Leonard W Mayer, Arnold Steigerwalt, Melissa Whaley, Richard R Facklam, Barry Fields and 4 more

Open access · greenAbstract readEvaluation Study
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 334 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
334citing papers in PubMed
8.2field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

334 citing papers in PubMed, 597 citations in OpenAlex.

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  11. Diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia using quantitative PCR targeting lytA and piaB in adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2026
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  14. Microbial Detection in Community-Acquired Pleural Space Infections Using the BIOFIRE Joint Infection Panel and Individual Polymerase Chain Reaction Assays.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026
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  20. Digital PCR linkage analysis resolvesMicrobiology spectrum · 2026
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274 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Maria da Gloria S CarvalhoDivision of Bacterial Diseases, Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Maria Lucia Tondella
Karen McCaustland
Luciana Weidlich
Lesley McGee
Leonard W Mayer
Arnold Steigerwalt
Melissa Whaley
Richard R Facklam
Barry Fields
George Carlone
Edwin W Ades
Ron Dagan
Jacquelyn S Sampson
Emory University · USFundação Estadual de Produção e Pesquisa em Saúde · BRSoroka Medical Center · IL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The accurate diagnosis of pneumococcal disease has frequently been hampered not only by the difficulties in obtaining isolates of the organism from patient specimens but also by the misidentification of pneumococcus-like viridans group streptococci (P-LVS) as Streptococcus pneumoniae. This is especially critical when the specimen comes from the respiratory tract. In this study, three novel real-time PCR assays designed for the detection of specific sequence regions of the lytA, ply, and psaA genes were developed (lytA-CDC, ply-CDC, and psaA, respectively). These assays showed high sensitivity (<10 copies for lytA-CDC and ply-CDC and an approximately twofold less sensitivity for psaA). Two additional real-time PCR assays for lytA and ply described previously for pneumococcal DNA detection were also evaluated. A panel of isolates consisting of 67 S. pneumoniae isolates (44 different serotypes and 3 nonencapsulated S. pneumoniae isolates from conjunctivitis outbreaks) and 104 nonpneumococcal isolates was used. The 67 S. pneumoniae isolates were reactive in all five assays. The new real-time detection assays targeting the lytA and psaA genes were the most specific for the detection of isolates confirmed to be S. pneumoniae, with lytA-CDC showing the greatest specificity. Both ply PCRs were positive for all isolates of S. pseudopneumoniae, along with 13 other isolates of other P-LVS isolates confirmed to be non-S. pneumoniae by DNA-DNA reassociation. Thus, the use of the ply gene for the detection of pneumococci can lead to false-positive reactions in the presence of P-LVS. The five assays were applied to 15 culture-positive cerebrospinal fluid specimens with 100% sensitivity; and serum and ear fluid specimens were also evaluated. Both the lytA-CDC and psaA assays, particularly the lytA-CDC assay, have improved specificities compared with those of currently available assays and should therefore be considered the assays of choice for the detection of pneumococcal DNA, particularly when upper respiratory P-LVS might be present in the clinical specimen.

Indexed as

Genes, BacterialCerebrospinal FluidChildDNA, BacterialFalse Positive ReactionsHumansNucleic Acid HybridizationOtitis Media with EffusionPneumococcal InfectionsPolymerase Chain ReactionSensitivity and SpecificitySerumStreptococcus pneumoniaeDNA, Bacterial

Identifiers

PMID17537936
PMCPMC1951257
OpenAlexW2110005071

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.