Molecular detection and speciation of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in blood from patients with culture-negative leptospirosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pathogenic Leptospira spp. present in the blood of patients with leptospirosis during the first week of symptoms can be detected using culture or PCR. A proportion of patients who are positive by PCR are negative by culture. Leptospira spp. are fastidious bacteria, and we hypothesized that a false-negative culture result may represent infection with a distinct bacterial subset that fail to grow in standard culture medium.

Methods

We evaluated our hypothesis during a prospective study of 418 consecutive patients presenting to a hospital in northeast Thailand with an acute febrile illness. Admission blood samples were taken for Leptospira culture and PCR. A single tube nested PCR that amplified a region of the rrs gene was developed and applied, amplicons sequenced

SUBMITTER: Boonsilp S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3297668 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature