Diagnosis of skin and nail dermatophyte infections using multiplex PCR

Abstract

We tested the performance of the AusDiagnostics Dermatophyte and Fungi PCR multiplex panel (AusDiagnostics, Australia) in three phases. In the first phase, we tested 22 dermatophytes cultured on solid agar media identified using traditional phenotypic methods. For specificity, 10 known bacteria and 10 known fungi commonly found on skin were tested from solid agar media. In the second phase of the study, we retrospectively tested skin and nail samples that were culture positive for dermatophytes. In the third phase of the study, we performed parallel testing of 176 patient samples using multiplex PCR and traditional microscopy and culture method.