{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T01:11:25Z","timestamp":1788311485401,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,15]],"date-time":"2023-03-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1678838400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Point-of-care syndromic PCR (POC SPCR) assays are useful tools for the rapid detection of the most common causative agents of community-acquired infections responsible for meningitis and encephalitis infections. We evaluated the performance characteristics of the new QIAstat-Dx\u00ae Meningitis\/Encephalitis panel (QS) compared to the laboratory reference methods and the POC SPCR Biofire\u00ae FilmArray\u00ae Meningitis Encephalitis Panel (FA). Viral (Enterovirus, Parechovirus, HSV-1, HSV-2, HHV-6, VZV) and bacterial (E. coli K1, H. influenzae, L. monocytogenes, encapsulated N. meningitidis, M. pneumoniae, S. agalactiae, S. pneumoniae, S. pyogenes) pathogens were suspended at low concentrations and tested with the POC SPCR systems. The reproducibility, analytical specificity, carryover contamination, interferences and clinical samples were evaluated. All samples tested positive with both QS and FA except for those containing the lowest concentrations of Enterovirus-D68-B3, Echovirus-30 and S. agalactiae which were only detected by FA. In terms of analytical specificity, we observed 3 false positive results out of 48 QS tests versus 1 out of 37 FA tests. For the other studied criteria, both QS and FA performed as expected. Our results suggest that the performance characteristics of QS are close to those of FA. A prospective multicenter study would be useful to complete the performances evaluation of QS.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics13061110","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,15]],"date-time":"2023-03-15T06:36:36Z","timestamp":1678862196000},"page":"1110","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Evaluation of the Performance Characteristics of a New POC Multiplex PCR Assay for the Diagnosis of Viral and Bacterial Neuromeningeal Infections"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Herv\u00e9","family":"Le Bars","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Unity of Bacteriology, Department of Bacteriology-Virology-Parasitology-Mycology-Hygiene, Pole of Biology-Pathology, University Hospital of Brest, F-29200 Brest, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Neil","family":"Madany","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unity of Virology, Department of Bacteriology-Virology-Parasitology-Mycology-Hygiene, Pole of Biology-Pathology, University Hospital of Brest, F-29200 Brest, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claudie","family":"Lamoureux","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unity of Bacteriology, Department of Bacteriology-Virology-Parasitology-Mycology-Hygiene, Pole of Biology-Pathology, University Hospital of Brest, F-29200 Brest, France"},{"name":"Univ Brest, Inserm, EFS, UMR 1078, GGB CEDEX, F-29200 Brest, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6163-2947","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cl\u00e9mence","family":"Beauruelle","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unity of Bacteriology, Department of Bacteriology-Virology-Parasitology-Mycology-Hygiene, Pole of Biology-Pathology, University Hospital of Brest, F-29200 Brest, France"},{"name":"Univ Brest, Inserm, EFS, UMR 1078, GGB CEDEX, F-29200 Brest, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4348-4247","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sophie","family":"Vallet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unity of Virology, Department of Bacteriology-Virology-Parasitology-Mycology-Hygiene, Pole of Biology-Pathology, University Hospital of Brest, F-29200 Brest, France"},{"name":"Univ Brest, Inserm, EFS, UMR 1078, GGB CEDEX, F-29200 Brest, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christopher","family":"Payan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unity of Virology, Department of Bacteriology-Virology-Parasitology-Mycology-Hygiene, Pole of Biology-Pathology, University Hospital of Brest, F-29200 Brest, France"},{"name":"Univ Brest, Inserm, EFS, UMR 1078, GGB CEDEX, F-29200 Brest, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"L\u00e9a","family":"Pilorg\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unity of Virology, Department of Bacteriology-Virology-Parasitology-Mycology-Hygiene, Pole of Biology-Pathology, University Hospital of Brest, F-29200 Brest, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"ofab467","DOI":"10.1093\/ofid\/ofab467","article-title":"Impact of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction panel on duration of empiric antibiotic therapy in suspected bacterial meningitis","volume":"8","author":"Choi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Open Forum Infect. 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