The aging population and increased incidence of severe bacterial infection can lead to sepsis. Interest to early identification of endangered patients and identification of pathogen do not always confirm the infection. To use biomarkers can help in early identification of infection and opportunity to start therapy timeously. All biomarkers were defined in 33 out of 96 patients. Thirty-two (97 %) patients had bacterial infection and 1 (3 %) patient had systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) without infection. PCR confirmed the infection in 27 cases and blood cultures in 8. Area under curve (AUC) for CD64 was 1.00, meanwhile other biomarkers showed 2-fold smaller AUC for positive infection. CD64 index was associated with bacterial infection (p<0.001) and could be used to confirm assessment of SIRS severity (p=0.037). As regards to our results, limited to only 33 patients, CD64 index served as a good parameter to predict bacterial infection and determine severity. The use of broad range 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) PCR proved to be an excellent tool to confirm bloodstream infection. The CD64 index had the highest AUC, which exceeded all the others, and could be used to predict the outcome of broad range 16S rRNA PCR from whole blood. However, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and sCD14 are much easier and faster to measure, but the values could be elevated in other clinical assessments.

Faculty of Medicine Institute of Microbiology and Immunology Zaloska 4 Ljubljana Slovenia

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