Institut Pasteur de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur, Laboratoire de Recherche en Bactériologie, BP61, 98845 Nouméa cedex, New Caledonia.
BMC Microbiol. 2010 Dec 22;10:325. doi: 10.1186/1471-2180-10-325.
Most of the current knowledge of leptospirosis epidemiology originates from serological results obtained with the reference Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT). However, inconsistencies and weaknesses of this diagnostic technique are evident. A growing use of PCR has improved the early diagnosis of leptospirosis but a drawback is that it cannot provide information on the infecting Leptospira strain which provides important epidemiologic data. Our work is aimed at evaluating if the sequence polymorphism of diagnostic PCR products could be used to identify the infecting Leptospira strains in the New Caledonian environment.
Both the lfb1 and secY diagnostic PCR products displayed a sequence polymorphism that could prove useful in presumptively identifying the infecting leptospire. Using both this polymorphism and MLST results with New Caledonian isolates and clinical samples, we confirmed the epidemiological relevance of the sequence-based identification of Leptospira strains. Additionally, we identified one cluster of L. interrogans that contained no reference strain and one cluster of L. borgpetersenii found only in the introduced Rusa deer Cervus timorensis russa that is its probable reservoir.
The sequence polymorphism of diagnostic PCR products proved useful in presumptively identifying the infecting Leptospira strains. This could contribute to a better understanding of leptospirosis epidemiology by providing epidemiological information that cannot be directly attained from the use of PCR as an early diagnostic test for leptospirosis.
大多数关于钩端螺旋体病流行病学的现有知识来源于使用参考显微镜凝集试验（MAT）获得的血清学结果。然而，这种诊断技术存在明显的不一致性和弱点。PCR 的广泛应用提高了钩端螺旋体病的早期诊断，但缺点是它不能提供有关感染的钩端螺旋体菌株的信息，而这些信息提供了重要的流行病学数据。我们的工作旨在评估诊断 PCR 产物的序列多态性是否可用于鉴定新喀里多尼亚环境中的感染钩端螺旋体菌株。
lfb1 和 secY 诊断 PCR 产物均显示出序列多态性，这可能有助于推测性地鉴定感染的钩端螺旋体。我们使用新喀里多尼亚分离株和临床样本的这一多态性和 MLST 结果，证实了基于序列的钩端螺旋体菌株鉴定的流行病学相关性。此外，我们鉴定了一个包含没有参考菌株的问号钩端螺旋体 L.interrogans 簇和一个仅在引入的红鹿 Cervus timorensis russa 中发现的波尔氏钩端螺旋体 L.borgpetersenii 簇，这可能是其可能的宿主。
诊断 PCR 产物的序列多态性证明有助于推测性地鉴定感染的钩端螺旋体菌株。这有助于通过提供无法直接从 PCR 作为钩端螺旋体病的早期诊断测试获得的流行病学信息，更好地了解钩端螺旋体病的流行病学。
