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AADNMR: A Simple Method for Rapid Identification of Bacterial/Mycobacterial Infections in Antibiotic Treated Peritoneal Dialysis Effluent Samples for Diagnosis of Infectious Peritonitis

An efficient method is reported for rapid identification of bacterial or mycobacterial infection in a suspected clinical/biological sample. The method is based on the fact that the ring methylene protons of cyclic fatty acids (constituting the cell membrane of several species of bacteria and mycobacteria) resonate specifically between -0.40 and 0.68 ppm region of the 1H NMR spectrum. These cyclic fatty acids are rarely found in the eukaryotic cell membranes. Therefore, the signals from cyclic ring moiety of these fatty acids can be used as markers (a) for the identification of bacterial and mycobacterial infections and (b) for differential diagnosis of bacterial and fungal infections. However, these microbial fatty acids when present inside the membrane are not easily detectable by NMR owing to their fast T2 relaxation. Nonetheless, the problem can easily be circumvented if these fatty acids become suspended in solution. This has been achieved by abolishing the membrane integrity using broad spectrum antibiotics (including ampicillin). The suspended fatty acids are then detected by NMR to probe the infection. Therefore, the method has been given the name AADNMR i.e. Add Antibiotic to Detect by NMR. The method has been tested here using both Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains and finally the utility of method is demonstrated for discriminating bacterial and fungal infections to aid timely diagnosis of infectious peritonitis (a life threatening complication associated with prolonged peritoneal dialysis).