Osteoarticular infections caused by Kingella kingae in children: contribution of polymerase chain reaction to the microbiologic diagnosis.

We report the cases of 18 children with osteoarticular infections caused by Kingella kingae. The bacteriologic diagnosis, mainly based on cultures of articular fluids, was significantly improved by directly inoculating the liquid medium used for hemocultures, yielding 65% of positive cultures vs. 13.5% with standard solid medium. In 5 cases infection of articular fluids was detected only by PCR of 16S ribosomal RNA.