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DDI - Dissertações de mestrado

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http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/25

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Browsing DDI - Dissertações de mestrado by Subject "16S rRNA"

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  • Validação de um algoritmo para identificação de Mycobacterium spp. no diagnóstico laboratorial
    Publication . João, Inês; Jordão, Luisa; Hänscheid, Thomas
    The last decade of the 20th century was marked by the appearance of the HIV pandemic. Together with this plague came not only the resurgence of tuberculosis but also the appearance of opportunistic infections due to nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) mainly by members of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). Later on these opportunistic infections were also often described in other groups of patients (e.g., organ transplanted and oncologic patients), which shared a compromised immune system. Concurrently, the number of NTM recognized as potential ethological agents of human diseases increased. Among these we highlight M. kansasii, M. abcessus, M. chelonae, M. malmoense and M. xenopi. Currently, NTM infections are an important health care problem, affecting both immunodepressed and immunocompetent individuals, with difficult diagnose and treatment since NTM are highly resistant to the available drugs. This fact lead us to a paradoxical situation in which microorganisms rated as level 1 and 2, based on biohazard classification, represent a threat similar to Mycobacterium tuberculosis multidrug resistant strains. The first step to overcome this problem is the implementation of fast and efficient diagnosis methods. This will enable the physician to diagnose and rapidly implement a therapeutical scheme in order to treat the patient and prevent the spread of the disease within the community. The present work intends to be a step forward to the achievement of this goal. In the present work 54 NTM strains from the INSA, Infection Diseases Department bacterial collection (years 2008-2009) were identified at least by two molecular biology methods following accepted guidelines. The results rendered by three different methods (PRA-hsp65, 16S rRNA and hsp65 sequention) were compared in order to analyze their performance in NTM identification. The main conclusion drawn from this work is that the correct identification of a NTM can only be achieved by the combination of at least two different methods. Usually is necessary to combine genotyping methods with the analysis of key phenotypic characteristics.
    2012-10-31Master thesis Open access Show more