The adaptation of the IS1106 PCR to a PCR ELISA format for the diagnosis of meningococcal infection

The increasing use of pre-admission antibiotics has resulted in decreasing numbers of meningococcal infections which are confirmed by isolation of the causative organism. The imminent availability of new vaccines for meningococcal disease necessitates the application of non-culture diagnostic methods for the confirmation of meningococcal infection. A PCR assay, based on the novel meningococcal insertion sequence IS1106 as previously described, was examined as a possible method for the non-culture diagnosis of meningococcal infection in CSF and sera. The PCR assay was adapted to a PCR-ELISA format incorporating hybridization with a specific biotinylated oligonucleotide probe for use in routine non-culture confirmation of meningococcal infection. Improvements in both specificity and sensitivity were achieved resulting in sensitivities and specificities of 64% and 100% for CSF, and 16% and 100% for serum, respectively. Analysis of the IS1106 sequence indicated further increased sensitivity may be achieved by alteration of the primer sequences.