International Journal of STD & AIDS > Volume 18, Number 12 > Pp. 842-845

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Castro, R Articles by Pereira, F L H Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Original research articles

Detection of Treponema pallidum sp pallidum DNA in latent syphilis

R Castro, E Prieto, M J Águas, M J Manata, J Botas, I Santo, J Azevedo and F L H Pereira

Unidade de Doenças Sexualmente Transmitidas, IHMT, UNL, Lisboa, Portugal; Unidade de Doenças Sexualmente Transmitidas, IHMT, UNL, Lisboa, Portugal; Servico de Infeccologia Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Portugal; Servico de Infeccologia Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Portugal; Servico de Infeccologia Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Portugal; Centro de Saúde da Lapa, ARS Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Lisboa, Portugal; Centro de Saúde da Lapa, ARS Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Lisboa, Portugal; Unidade de Doenças Sexualmente Transmitidas, IHMT, UNL, Lisboa, Portugal

In this study, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques were used to detect Treponema pallidum DNA in samples from patients with latent syphilis. Sixty-nine patients with latent syphilis and 18 with treated syphilis were included. Whole blood, plasma, sera and ear scrapings, totalling 235 samples from patients with latent syphilis, were obtained. Three PCR assays (47-PCR, polA-PCR and M-PCR assays) were performed. The 47-PCR yielded the highest number of positive samples –92/235 (39.1%), followed by M-PCR –90/235 (38.3%) and polA-PCR –73/235 (31.1%). Ear scrapings presented the highest number of positives (47/84 –56%), followed by plasma samples (36/84 –42.9%), whole blood (32/84 –38.1%) and sera (21/84 –25%). In conclusion, we have confirmed that T. pallidum can be found in blood of patients with latent syphilis. The 47-PCR technique was found to be the most sensitive, whereas ear lobe scrapings seem to be the best specimen for detection of T. pallidum DNA in latent syphilis.

Key Words: T. PALLIDUM • LATENT SYPHILIS • PCR • SYPHILIS

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A Gayet-Ageron, B Ninet, L Toutous-Trellu, S Lautenschlager, H Furrer, V Piguet, J Schrenzel, and B Hirschel Assessment of a real-time PCR test to diagnose syphilis from diverse biological samples Sex Transm Inf, August 1, 2009; 85(4): 264 - 269. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]