Quantitative PCR

The article asserts that qPCR is designed to detect low-abundance pathogens and opportunistic organisms that other methodologies may miss. The move to qPCR followed a case where visually infected implants had negative standard cultures. A culture-negative but visibly abnormal implant case contributed to adoption of quantitative PCR testing. GI-MAP qPCR reports absolute quantitative values rather than relative abundance. Quantitative PCR is presented as detecting microbial DNA fragments rather than relying on growth in culture. The qPCR panel described looks for roughly 150 bacteria, fungi, and mycobacteria. The article uses qPCR to identify organisms in capsule or pocket samples even when standard cultures are negative. Practitioners should compare patient results to reference ranges by calculating the exponent difference.