Sepsis was clinically suspected in

the presence of previously described signs [14] and [15] GW 572016 and confirmed by culture or RT-PCR for N. meningitidis. All patients aged 0–18 years admitted with a diagnosis of meningitis or sepsis to the participating centers during the study period were included in the study. Data regarding age, sex, clinical presentation, blood tests, radiologic exams and vaccination status were collected. Biological samples were obtained as part of routine exams for etiologic definition. The study, partially funded by the Italian Center for Disease Control (CCM), was approved by the local institutional review board. Samples of blood and/or CSF, according to the clinical presentation, were obtained from all children included in the study as soon as possible after hospital admission and were used for molecular testing by RT-PCR and/or culture. All samples for cultural

tests were immediately sent to the local laboratory using the procedures established by each hospital for culture tests. All samples for molecular tests were sent to the central Laboratory (Immunology Laboratory, Anna Meyer Children Hospital, Florence, Italy) using a free-post carrier, delivered within the following day and tested within 2 h after delivery. All the samples for molecular tests were accompanied by a form collecting demographic and laboratory data and the main clinical findings of the patient. For culture purposes, 4–6 ml of blood samples (up to 3 sets) were used. All cases in which RT-PCR or culture demonstrated the presence of N. meningitidis were serogrouped using molecular Autophagy Compound Library techniques; in the central Laboratory 200 μl

of whole blood were used for both diagnosis and serogrouping by RT-PCR. Bacterial genomic DNA was extracted from 200 μl of biological samples using the QIAmp Dneasy Blood & Tissue kit (Qiagen), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. RT-PCR amplification was performed in 25 μl reaction volumes containing 2× TaqMan Universal Master Mix (Applied Biosystem, Foster City, CA, USA); primers were used at a concentration of 400 nM; FAM labeled probes at a concentration of 200 nM. Six μl of DNA extract was used for each reaction. All reactions were performed in triplicate. A negative control (no-template) and a positive control were included in every run. DNA was amplified in an ABI 7500 sequence detection system (Applied Biosystem, Foster these City, CA, USA) using, for all the primers couples, the same cycling parameters as follows: 50° for 2 min for UNG digestion 95 °C for 10 min followed by 45 cycles of a two-stage temperature profile of 95 °C for 15 s and 60 °C for 1 min. If no increase in fluorescent signal was observed after 40 cycles, the sample was assumed to be negative. All samples which were positive in Realtime-PCR for ctra gene were included in serogrouping analysis. The following serogroups were tested: A, B, C, W135, Y using primers and probes as described in Table 1. Data was processed with the SPSSX 11.