Detection of Causative Agents of Bacterial Pneumonia in Hospitalized Hajj and Umrah Cases By Multiplex Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Background and objectives: middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (mers-cov) is commonly detected in pneumonia patients who travel from the middle east regions. besides mers-cov, many other pathogenic agents cause pneumonia. detection of such organisms must be done swiftly, especially in case of the negative mers-cov samples. the aim of this study was to identify the pathogenic agents that might account for bacterial pneumonia, from hajj and umrah pneumonia cases. materials and methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study, 38 pneumonia clinical samples from suffering of hajj and umrah in 2017 with negative mers-cov were selected. the laboratory testing was done at national reference laboratory in jakarta and performed by multiplex real-time pcr using a ftd respiratory pathogens. results: haemophilus influenzae (26.4%) was the most frequent bacteria detected. other causative agents of bacterial pneumonia identified were moraxella catarrhalis (20.8%), klebsiella pneumoniae (13.2%), streptococcus pneumoniae (9.4%), and staphylococcus aureus (5.7%). from 38 samples showed that 25 (65.79%) samples were positive with bacteria, including five samples with coinfection. the coinfection were combinations among s. aureus and s. pneumoniae (1/20), s. pneumoniae and k. pneumoniae (1/20), s. pneumoniae and m. catarrhalis (2/20), s. pneumoniae and h. influenzae (2/20), k. pneumoniae and h. influenzae (5/20), and m. catarrhalis and h. influenzae (5/20). conclusion: haemophilus influenzae is the most recurrent bacteria to be identified in samples of pneumonia of hajj and umrah cases.