Detection and Characterization of Diphtheria Toxin Gene-Bearing Corynebacterium Species through a New Real-Time PCR Assay.

ABSTRACT: Respiratory diphtheria, characterized by a firmly adherent pseudomembrane, is caused by toxin-producing strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae, with similar illness produced occasionally by toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans or, rarely, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis While diphtheria laboratory confirmation requires culture methods to determine toxigenicity, real-time PCR (RT-PCR) provides a faster method to detect the toxin gene (tox). Nontoxigenic tox-bearing (NTTB) Corynebacterium isolates have been described, but impact of these isolates on the accuracy of molecular diagnostics is not well characterized. Here, we describe a new triplex RT-PCR assay to detect tox and distinguish C. diphtheriae from the closely related species <

SUBMITTER: Williams MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7512153 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature