Culture-based method with performance comparable to that of PCRbased methods for detection of group b streptococcus in screening samples from pregnant women

Abstract

We compared five approaches for group B streptococcus (GBS) detection: three culture-based methods and two methods using broth-enhanced real-time PCR. Carrot broth-enhanced subculture to GBS Detect (Hardy Diagnostics, Santa Maria, CA) exhibited sensitivity and specificity comparable to carrot broth- and LIM broth-enhanced real-time PCRs. © 2013, American Society for Microbiology.