Evaluation of an oligonucleotide probe and an immunological test for direct detection of toxigenic Clostridium difficile in stool samples.
A 33 basepair oligonucleotide probe, designed from the sequence of the Clostridium difficile toxin B gene, was evaluated for its ability to detect toxigenic Clostridium difficile directly in stool samples, without culture or DNA isolation. Two different labelling techniques were investigated: radiolabelling and digoxigenin-labelling. One hundred ninety-six stools were tested, with a good correlation (96%) obtained between the oligonucleotide probe and the gold standard, the cytotoxicity tissue culture assay. The sensitivity and specificity were 83% and 100%, respectively. In parallel, a new commercially available enzyme immunoassay for the detection of Clostridium difficile toxin A in stool specimens was investigated. In 162 samples tested, a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 98% were obtained.
Green
G A
GA
Laboratoire de Toxinologie Bactérienne, Faculté de Médecine, Université Louis-Pasteur, Strasbourg, France.
Riot
B
B
Monteil
H
H
D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D012756:Sheep
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; C031815:toxB protein, Clostridium difficile