Abstract
PCR-based detection of fungal pathogens offers a sensitive and specific tool for the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections. A large variety of different clinical specimen types can be used as original material. However, certain precautions, in addition to the published MIQE guidelines [1], need to be taken to prevent contaminations from airborne fungal spores and PCR reagents. In addition, the European Aspergillus PCR Initiative (EAPCRI) recently defined standards for Aspergillus PCR [2, 3], following these recommendations leads to superior sensitivity. The combination of fungal PCR with the galactomannan ELISA assay increases the sensitivity for the detection of Aspergillus DNA from blood, compared to a single assay only [4, 5].
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Springer, J., Löffler, J. (2017). Genus- and Species-Specific PCR Detection Methods. In: Lion, T. (eds) Human Fungal Pathogen Identification. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1508. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6515-1_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6515-1_15
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