Simultaneous identification of 29 prevalent invasive pneumococcal serotypes or pairs of serotypes by hybridization-ligation PCR

A hybridization-ligation PCR assay was developed for the simultaneous detection and identification of 21 pneumococcal serotypes and 8 pairs of serotypes in the same serogroup: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6A, 6B, 6C-6D, 7F-7A, 8, 9A-9V, 9N-9L, 11A, 14, 15B-15C, 16F, 17F, 18B-18C, 19A, 19F, 20, 21, 22A-22F, 23A, 23B, 23F, 28A-28F, 35B and 38. This novel assay was validated with 185 serotyped pneumococcal invasive clinical isolates and 57 culture-negative pleural fluids previously typed by real-time PCR.