title: The rrs (16S)-rrl (23S) ribosomal intergenic spacer region as a target for the detection of Haemophilus ducreyi by a heminested-PCR assay.
abstract: The intergenic spacer region between the rrs and rrl ribosomal RNA genes of Haemophilus ducreyi was analysed and the DNA sequence was used for the selection of specific PCR primers. A highly sensitive and specific heminested-PCR assay for the identification of H. ducreyi was developed. The assay showed a sensitivity of 96% on genital ulcer specimens from patients with clinically diagnosed chancroid, compared with a sensitivity of 56% for culture methods. These results indicate that this PCR assay has the potential to become an accurate and easy reference method for the detection of H. ducreyi.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: X X
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: 2 Innogenetics NV, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rossau
authors.affiliation: 2 Innogenetics NV, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jannes
authors.affiliation: 3 STD/HIV Research Unit, South African Institute of Medical Research, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ballard
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laga
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Van Dyck
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002602:Chancroid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D006191:Haemophilus ducreyi / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal