%0 Journal Article
%T Molecular detection and speciation of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in blood from patients with culture-negative leptospirosis
%A Siriphan Boonsilp
%A Janjira Thaipadungpanit
%A Premjit Amornchai
%A Vanaporn Wuthiekanun
%A Wirongrong Chierakul
%A Direk Limmathurotsakul
%A Nicholas P Day
%A Sharon J Peacock
%J BMC Infectious Diseases
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2334-11-338
%X 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 and a phylogenetic tree reconstructed.39/418 (9%) patients were culture-positive for Leptospira spp., and 81/418 (19%) patients were culture-negative but rrs PCR-positive. The species associated with culture-positive leptospirosis (37 L. interrogans and 2 L. borgpetersenii) were comparable to those associated with culture-negative, PCR-positive leptospirosis (76 L. interrogans, 4 L. borgpetersenii, 1 unidentified, possibly new species).Molecular speciation failed to identify a unique bacterial subset in patients with culture-negative, PCR-positive leptospirosis. The rate of false-negative culture was high, and we speculate that antibiotic pre-treatment is the most likely explanation for this.Leptospirosis is an acute febrile illness caused by pathogenic species belonging to the genus Leptospira [1,2]. This zoonotic disease has a worldwide distribution but is most common in tropical and subtropical regions and has the greatest impact on public health in developing countries [1-4]. Disease is maintained by chronic carrier hosts that excrete the organism into the environment, and infection in man results from direct contact with infected animals or indirect contact with a contaminated environment [1-3].Leptospira are present in the blood during the first week of infective symptoms [1,2]. Culture is rarely performed in routine clinical practice since this may take several months and requires considerable expertise, which places it within the domain of specialist reference centres. Culture continues to have an important role, however, in defining the global epidemiology of infection [4]. Identification of the serovar of infecting isolate
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/11/338