Pros and Cons of Using BioFire FilmArray in the Diagnosis of Meningitis/Encephalitis

Marta Valentim

Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Distrital de Santarém, Portugal

Dr. Marta Valentim, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Distrital de Santarém, Portugal.

Keywords: FilmArray; Meningitis; Encephalitis; Diagnosis

Abstract

Meningitis/Encephalitis (ME) is a life-threatening entity, hence a rapid diagnosis and treatment is required to minimize the morbidity and mortality [1]. In United States there are approximately 4.100 cases of bacterial meningitis and 20.000 of encephalitis per year, with 12% and 7% of mortality associated, respectively [1].
Nowadays we have several diagnostic procedures for identify different microorganisms in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) responsible for ME: the gram stain (the current gold standard), the culture, the antigen detection and the different molecular methods [1]. All these methods can be useful to achieve the correct microbiological diagnostic, but there are two main problems common to all of them: first the lack of sensitivity and specificity, and second, it takes time to get the results, in case the test achieve to detect the microorganism responsible for the ME [1].

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