Utility of commercial systems for identification of Burkholderia cepacia complex from cystic fibrosis sputum culture

Performances of several commercial test systems were reviewed to determine their relative levels of accuracy in identifying Burkholderia cepacia compl ex isolates recovered from cystic fibrosis sputum culture. Positive predict ive values ranged from 71 to 98%; negative predictive values ranged from 50 to 82%, All systems misidentified S. cepacia complex. The species most fre quently misidentified as B. cepacia was Burkholderia gladioli, These data s upport the results of previous studies that recommend confirmatory testing, including the use of DNA-based methods, for sputum culture isolates presum ptively identified as B. cepacia.