Table 2. Number of samples available and analysed with each detection method.
| Pneumococcal conventional methods | Pneumococcal additional detection methods | Detection of other pathogens | |||||
| Blood culture | Pleural fluid culture | Pleural fluid PCR | Blood SSS | Blood rtPCR | NPA viral culture | NPA viral and atypical PCR | |
| Available samples, n (%) | 538 (95.9) | 53 (47.3) a | 53 (47.3) a | 383 (71.0) | 519 (96.3) | 193 (35.3) | 193 (35.3) |
| Samples analysed, n (%) | 538 (100.0) | 49 (92.5) | 22 (41.5) | 171 (45.2) | 154 (29.7) | 163 b (82.3) | 160 b (80.8) |
NPA, nasopharyngeal aspirate or swab; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; rtPCR, real-time polymerase chain reaction; SSS, serotype-specific serology on paired serum samples.
a
proportion of patients with pleural effusion (N = 112).
b
number of samples that were analysed by each method;130/193 samples were analysed by both methods.