Abstract
ABSTRACT.Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) of dried blood spots (DBS) for pathogen detection is a potentially convenient method for infectious disease diagnosis. This study tested 115 DBS samples paired with whole blood specimens of children and adolescent from Burkina Faso, Sudan, and Madagascar by qPCR for a wide range of pathogens, including protozoans, helminths, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Plasmodium spp. was consistently detected from DBS but yielded a mean cycle threshold (Ct) 5.7 ± 1.6 higher than that from whole blood samples. A DBS qPCR Ct cutoff of 27 yielded 94.1% sensitivity and 95.1% specificity against the whole blood qPCR cutoff of 21 that has been previously suggested for malaria diagnosis. For other pathogens investigated, DBS testing yielded a sensitivity of only 8.5% but a specificity of 98.6% compared with whole blood qPCR. In sum, direct PCR of DBS had reasonable performance for Plasmodium but requires further investigation for the other pathogens assessed in this study.
Highlights
Quantitative polymerase chain reaction of dried blood spots (DBS) for pathogen detection is a potentially convenient method for infectious disease diagnosis
Recent studies have shown the potential of molecular detection of pathogens using DBS including Plasmodium spp.,[7,8] dengue fever virus,[9] Leptospira spp.,[10] Streptococcus spp.[11] and Haemophilus spp.[11] but with varying success
The Typhoid Fever Surveillance in Africa Program (TSAP) was a multisite prospective fever surveillance study conducted in 10 sub-Saharan African countries between 2011 and 2013.12 The project’s main goal was to identify Salmonella Typhi and invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella spp. in febrile patients using blood culture-based diagnostics.[13]
Summary
Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) of dried blood spots (DBS) for pathogen detection is a potentially convenient method for infectious disease diagnosis. A total of 615 whole blood samples from Burkina Faso, Sudan, and Madagascar, were stored at –80C and tested in 2018 by qPCR by TaqMan Array Card (TAC).[14] Of these 615 samples, we selected 107 DBS for which whole blood was positive for one or more of 15 pathogens, in addition to eight
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