Tseneva G Ia, Shchederkina E E
Pasteur Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, St. Retersburg.
Zh Mikrobiol Epidemiol Immunobiol. 2000 Sep-Oct(5):72-4.
624 Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains, newly isolated from patients and carriers, were studied with the use of the methods of gel immunodiffusion (Elek's test) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In the evaluation of 388 C. diptheriae strains, found to be toxigenic in PCR, the results of Elek's test coincided with those of PCR on 98% of cases. In 38 out of 143 strains (26.5%), nontoxigenic according to the results of Elek's test, the presence of the A-fragment of the tox-gene was established. Subculturing in nutrient media made it possible to determine the presence of toxin in 19 out of 38 of these strains; the remaining strains, isolated mainly from carriers, were found to have the "silent" gene. The advantage of using PCR for the detection of toxigenic and nontoxigenic C. diphtheriae strains of different origin was shown.
采用凝胶免疫扩散法（Elek试验）和聚合酶链反应（PCR）对624株新分离自患者和携带者的白喉棒状杆菌菌株进行了研究。在对388株经PCR检测产毒的白喉棒状杆菌菌株进行评估时，Elek试验结果在98%的病例中与PCR结果一致。在143株经Elek试验结果判定为不产毒的菌株中，有38株（26.5%）检测到了tox基因的A片段。在营养培养基中传代培养后，在这38株菌株中有19株检测到了毒素的存在；其余主要从携带者中分离出的菌株被发现含有“沉默”基因。结果表明，使用PCR检测不同来源的产毒和不产毒白喉棒状杆菌菌株具有优势。
