Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of bacteremia in febrile pediatric parents, comparing universal PCR and conventional blood culture. One hundred consecutive febrile children (45 males, 55 females) with suspected septicemia were evaluated. A total of 100 paired blood samples were collected from children to analyze for bacterial detection using universal PCR and culture. Twelve patients were blood culture positive. The most common pathogen isolated from blood Culture wasa Staphylococcus aurous. The PCR was positive in 19 patients. The comparison revealed sensitively, specificity and accuracy of 91.67, 90.91 and 91, respectively, for PCR. The present study shows that the use of PCR is more sensitive than the use of conventional blood techniques for the detection of bacterium pathogens based on patients' clinical context.