Abstract
Meningitis and encephalitis (ME) are important causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients suspected of having ME are often hospitalized and started on empiric antimicrobial treatment, because of the potential adverse consequences of delaying the diagnosis or treatment. Multiplexed polymerase chain reaction panels are one of several rapid diagnostic technologies that have the potential to overcome some of the limitations of conventional diagnostic methods for ME. The BioFire FilmArray Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel was the first Food and Drug Administration-cleared multiplex polymerase chain reaction for the evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid samples, able to identify 14 organisms in a single test reaction. This newer rapid diagnostic tool has an overall high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of ME with a fast turnaround time and has the potential to improve resource utilization for patients presenting with suspicion of ME. However, further research is needed to determine its optimal use in the evaluation of patients with suspected ME.