Improved Detection of Microbial Diversity of Sinus Infections

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are more susceptible to sinus infections than the healthy population and knowledge of the aetiological microorganisms might be important for a successful treatment.

Analysis of the samples taken during sinus surgery from 19 CF patients was performed with culture and molecular methods. For molecular analysis the samples were pre-treated with MolYsis™ Basic (Molzym, Germany) to remove the human and free microbial DNA prior to DNA isolation with FastDNA® SPIN Kit for soil (MP Biomedicals, France) [1]. Afterwards samples were analysed by clone libraries or qPCR assays for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Propionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus aureus. Results showed that culture methods could not detect some important species and underestimated the diversity in comparison to molecular methods. A variety of aerobic, anaerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria have not been detected, leading to the suspicion that culture misses the complexity of bacterial communities and may not be sufficient enough as diagnostics for CF patients with sinus infections [1].