%0 Journal Article
%T Detection of virulence genes in Malaysian Shigella species by multiplex PCR assay
%A Kwai Thong
%A Susan Hoe
%A SD Puthucheary
%A Rohani Md Yasin
%J BMC Infectious Diseases
%D 2005
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2334-5-8
%X A mPCR assay was designed for the simultaneous detection of chromosomal- and plasmid-encoded virulence genes (set1A, set1B, ial and ipaH) in Shigella spp. One hundred and ten Malaysian strains (1997¨C2000) isolated from patients from various government hospitals were used. Reproducibility and sensitivity of the assay were also evaluated. Applicability of the mPCR in clinical settings was tested with spiked faeces following preincubation in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth.The ipaH sequence was present in all the strains, while each of the set1A, set1B and ial gene was present in 40% of the strains tested. Reproducibility of the mPCR assay was 100% and none of the non-Shigella pathogens tested in this study were amplified. The mPCR could detect 100 colony-forming units (cfu) of shigellae per reaction mixture in spiked faeces following preincubation.The mPCR system is reproducible, sensitive and is able to identify pathogenic strains of shigellae irrespective of the locality of the virulence genes. It can be easily performed with a high throughput to give a presumptive identification of the causal pathogen.Members of the genus Shigella, namely S. flexneri, S. dysenteriae, S. sonnei and S. boydii have caused and continue to be responsible for mortality and/or morbidity in high risk populations such as children under five years of age, senior citizens, toddlers in day-care centres, patients in custodial institutions, homosexual men and, war- and famine-engulfed people. Yearly episodes of shigellosis globally have been estimated to be 164.7 million and of these, 163.2 million were in developing countries and the remaining in industrialized nations. The mortality rate was approximately 0.7% [1]. A recent study by Lee & Puthucheary [2] on bacterial enteropathogens in childhood diarrhoea in a Malaysian urban hospital showed that Shigella spp. was the third most common bacteria isolated. S. flexneri and S. dysenteriae type 1 infections are usually characterized by frequent pa
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/5/8