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The yield of CSF molecular testing in febrile neonates

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Abstract

We retrospectively examined the yield of a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) multiplex real-time PCR assay of febrile young infants undergoing a full sepsis work-up. Eighty infants were included in the study: Forty-nine (61%) neonates and 31 (39%) 29–90 day-old patients were included in the study. A viral pathogen was detected in 59% (47/80) of the samples, human enterovirus in 53% (42/80) and Human parechovirus in 6% (5/80). The CSF of nearly half of the subjects with CNS infection was without pleocytosis; all CSF cultures were negative. Multiplex PCR CSF testing enhances the diagnosis of pathogen-specific viral CNS infection among febrile young infants.

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Author notes

  1. Basheer Nassrallah and Ellen Bamberger contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    Basheer Nassrallah, Ellen Bamberger, Isaac Srugo & Jacob Genizi

  2. Bruce Rappaport Faulty of Medicine , Technion, Haifa, Israel

    Ellen Bamberger, Isaac Srugo & Jacob Genizi

  3. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sarah Cohen

  4. Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    Isaac Srugo, Orit Golan-Shany, Yulia Shlonsky & Raeda Mubariki

  5. Pediatric Neurology Unit, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    Jacob Genizi

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  1. Basheer Nassrallah
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  2. Ellen Bamberger
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  8. Jacob Genizi
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Correspondence to Jacob Genizi.

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Data and material are available.

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Bnai Zion IRB No BNZ −19-005.

All patients gave their consent to participate in the study and the data to be published.

All patients gave their consent to the data to be published.We give a full consent to publish at the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.Authors’ contributions –.

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Nassrallah, B., Bamberger, E., Cohen, S. et al. The yield of CSF molecular testing in febrile neonates. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 40, 1553–1557 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-021-04168-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-021-04168-8

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