Sensitive and universal method for microbial DNA extraction from blood products.

A new method of extracting bacterial and yeast DNA from blood products dependent on guanidinium thiocyanate acid extraction and proteinase K treatment is described. In spiked samples the sensitivity per 0.1 ml of serum and blood, respectively, was 26 and 150 colony forming units (cfu) for Escherichia coli, 80 and 120 cfu for Staphylococcus aureus and 20 and 26 cfu for Candida albicans. This compared well with existing methodologies, worked on limited clinical samples and was not pathogen specific.