Clinical value of droplet digital PCR in rapid diagnosis of invasive fungal infection in neonates

Abstract

To evaluate the clinical value of droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) in rapid and accurate diagnosis of invasive fungal infection (IFI) in neonates. The highly conserved sequence of fungi 18S RNA was selected as the target sequence, and primers were designed to establish a ddPCR fungal detection system. Blood samples were collected from 83 neonates with high-risk factors for IFI and/or related clinical symptoms in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a hospital in Shenzhen, China. Blood culture and ddPCR were used for fungal detection. The ddPCR fungal detection system had a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 3.2 copies/μL, and had a good reproducibility. Among the 22 blood samples from neonates with a confirmed or clinical diagnosis of IFI, 19 were detected positive by ddPCR. Among the 61 blood samples from neonates who were suspected of IFI or had no IFI, 2 were detected positive by ddPCR. The ddPCR technique can be used for the detection of neonatal IFI and is a promising tool for the screening and even diagnosis of neonatal IFI.