Short Report: Detection of Orientia Tsutsugamushi in Clinical Samples by Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Abstract

Orientia tsutsugamushi infection causes scrub typhus, a common zoonosis of rural Asia. Orientia tsutsugamushi was recently detected by a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay in animal specimens. We evaluated the same qPCR assay in specimens obtained from patients with serologically proven scrub typhus infections. The 47-kDa qPCR assay was more sensitive than was mouse inoculation; it was reactive in whole blood specimens from all 10 isolate-positive patients and in 7 of 17 isolate-negative individuals (P= 0.003, Fisher's two-tailed exact test). As few as 1,076 O. tsutsugamushi copies/microLiter were detected in whole blood. Four of 7 sera from isolate-proven scrub typhus infections were also reactive by qPCR. The assay was unreactive in all 12 individuals without scrub typhus infection. This is the first demonstration of a sensitive and specific real-time qPCR assay for human scrub typhus infection.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA468890

Entities

People

  • Allen L Richards
  • George Watt
  • Ju Jiang
  • Sornchai Looareesuwan
  • Tasawan Singhsilarak
  • Varee Wongchotigul
  • Wattana Leowattana

Organizations

  • Mahidol University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Biomedical Research
  • Chain Reactions
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Clinical Trials
  • Culture Techniques
  • Dengue
  • Detection
  • Electronic Mail
  • Infection
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Rickettsial Diseases
  • Scrub Typhus
  • Thailand
  • Tropical Medicine
  • Typhus
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Infectious Disease/Epidemiology
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