Evaluation of four commercial real-time PCR assays for detection of Bordetella spp. in nasopharyngeal aspirates.

Abstract : We evaluated the performances of 4 commercial real-time PCR kits for Bordetella pertussis IS481 sequence detection in nasopharyngeal aspirates by comparison with an in-house real-time PCR assay. Among them, the Simplexa Bordetella pertussis/parapertussis assay (Focus Diagnostics), the SmartCycler Bordetella pertussis/parapertussis assay (Cepheid), and Bordetella R-gene (Argene) present sensitivities over 90%. One kit proved unsuitable for routine clinical use.