Volume 8, Number 10—October 2002
Letter
Evaluation and Validation of a Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay for Rapid Identification of Bacillus anthracis Supplement
Table 1
Laboratory methods used for confirmation of 11 inhalational anthrax casesa,b
| Patient no.c | Laboratory confirmation | Other laboratory tests positive for Bacillus anthracis |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CSF culture | IHC of multiple (postmortem) tissues, blood culture |
| 2 | PCR of pleural fluid; IHC of pleural fluid; serology | Transbronchial biopsy IHC, pleural biopsy IHC |
| 3 | Blood culture | PCR of blood; serology |
| 4 | Blood culture | Serology |
| 5 | Blood culture | IHC of mediastinal lymph nodes; PCR of blood |
| 6 | Blood culture | IHC of mediastinal lymph nodes; PCR of blood |
| 7 | Blood culture | Serology |
| 8 | PCR of pleural fluid; IHC of pleural fluid | Serology |
| 9 | IHC of pleural fluid and bronchial biopsy; serology | |
| 10 | Blood and pleural fluid culture | IHC of multiple organs; PCR of multiple organs |
| 11 | Blood culture | PCR of multiple organs; IHC of multiple organs |
aAll initial isolation of Bacillus anthracis from clinical specimens took place at the local health facility where the patients were treated.
bCSF, cerebrospinal fluid; IHC, immunohistochemical stain; PCR, polymerase chain reaction.
cPatients 1–10 described in Jernigan et al. (1) and patient 11 in Barakat et al. (5).
