Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 25726039
Link to DOI – 10.1016/j.cmi.2015.01.017S1198-743X(15)00222-0
Clin. Microbiol. Infect. 2015 Jun; 21(6): 594.e1-5
Molecular methods are crucial for mucormycosis diagnosis because cultures are frequently negative, even if microscopy suggests the presence of hyphae in tissues. We assessed PCR/electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (PCR/ESI-MS) for Mucorales identification in 19 unfixed tissue samples from 13 patients with proven or probable mucormycosis and compared the results with culture, quantitative real-time PCR, 16S-23S rRNA gene internal transcribed spacer region (ITS PCR) and 18S PCR sequencing. Concordance with culture identification to both genus and species levels was higher for PCR/ESI-MS than for the other techniques. Thus, PCR/ESI-MS is suitable for Mucorales identification, within 6 hours, for tissue samples for which microscopy results suggest the presence of hyphae.