ObjectiveTo understand pathogen spectrum of bacterial and fungal infection of central nervous system (CNS), and evaluate the etiological diagnostic value of universal primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR).MethodsData about patients with suspected or confirmed bacterial and fungal infection of CNS from January 2009 to March 2015 were collected, species of pathogens from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were analyzed, DNA from patients’ CSF were performed PCR amplification and sequencing with universal primers of bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal 28S rRNA, PCR detection results were compared with CSF culture during the same period.ResultsA total of 400 patients were with confirmed or suspected bacterial or fungal infection of CNS, 132 of whom were with positive CSF culture.150 pathogenic isolates were detected, including 48 isolates of grampositive bacteria, 90 gramnegative bacteria, and 12 fungi; the top three isolated bacteria were Acinetobacter baumannii (n=32), coagulase negative staphylococcus (n=16) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=13); the most common fungus was Cryptococcus neoformans (n=8). CSF from 88 infected patients and 20 noninfected patients were selected for PCR amplification, the sensitive of PCR amplification assay was higher than the culture method (35.23% ［31/88］ vs 28.41%［25/88］, χ2＝4.17，P＜0.05）. Negative predictive value of PCR amplification assay and culture method were 25.97% and 24.10% respectively, the specificity and positive predictive value of two methods were both 100.00%. The coincidence rate of PCR amplification sequencing and culture result was 84.00%(21/25); the average reporting time of PCR (48 h) was more rapid than that of culture (72 h for bacteria and 96h for fungi).ConclusionPathogens of CNS infections are widely distributed and the main are gramnegative bacteria; universal primer PCR has the characteristics of rapid, high sensitivity, and accuracy, which has a good clinical popularization and application value.