Table 4. Results obtained for the presumably sterile samples by culture and by the two direct sequencing protocols.

ID	Specimen	Culture	Universal PCR	Group-specific PCRs			Antibiotics*
				A	B	C
26	Abscess liver (amoebic)	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	Unknown
27	Abscess lung (aspergilloma)	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	CT
28	Abscess neck (tumor colli)	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
29	Abscess pelvic (cancer)	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	Unknown
30	Abscess subcutaneous (cancer)	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	CF
31	Biopsy bone	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
32	Pericardial fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	GE, PC
33	Pericardial fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	AM, CI
34	Pericardial fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	Unknown
35	Peritoneal fluid	No growth	Pos†	Neg	Neg	Neg	OX
36	Peritoneal fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
37	Pleural fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
38	Pleural fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
39	Pleural fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
40	Pleural fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
41	Pleural fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
42	Pleural fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	Unknown
43	Subdural haematoma	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
44	Synovial fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	Unknown
45	Synovial fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
46	Synovial fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	Unknown
47	Synovial fluid	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
48	Tissue prosthetic joint	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	Unknown
49	Tissue prosthetic joint	No growth	Neg	Neg	Neg	Neg	–
50	Tissue prosthetic joint	No growth	Neg	Neg	Pos‡	Neg	–

^*Antibiotics: AM, amoxicillin; CI, ciprofloxacin; CF, cefalotin; CT, cefotaxime; GE, gentamicin; OX, oxacillin; PC, penicillin.

^†Distance to negative control 3.0 cycles; C_t = 31.5.

^‡Distance to closest negative control 3.1 cycles; C_t = 30.6.