Target-Specific Assay for Rapid and Quantitative Detection of Mycobacterium chimaera DNA.

is an opportunistic environmental mycobacterium belonging to the - complex. Although most commonly associated with pulmonary disease, there has been growing awareness of invasive infections following cardiac surgery. Investigations suggest worldwide spread of a specific clone, associated with contaminated hospital heater-cooler units used during the surgery. Given the global dissemination of this clone, its potential to cause invasive disease, and the laboriousness of current culture-based diagnostic methods, there is a pressing need to develop rapid and accurate diagnostic assays specific for Here, we assessed 354 mycobacterial genome sequences and confirmed that is a phylogenetically coherent group. comparisons indicated six DNA regions present only in We targeted one of these regions and developed a TaqMan quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay for with a detection limit of 100 CFU/ml in whole blood spiked with bacteria. screening against DNA extracted from 40 other mycobacterial species and 22 bacterial species from 21 diverse genera confirmed the -predicted specificity for Screening 33 water samples from heater-cooler units with this assay highlighted the increased sensitivity of PCR compared to culture, with 15 of 23 culture-negative samples positive by qPCR. We have thus developed a robust molecular assay that can be readily and rapidly deployed to screen clinical and environmental specimens for .