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Diagnosis of acute typhus infection using the polymerase chain reaction
M Carl1, C W Tibbs, M E Dobson
1Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-5055.
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
|April 1, 1990
Abstract:
The first use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the diagnosis of an acute rickettsial infection is described. A primer pair derived from the 17-kDa antigen sequence of Rickettsia rickettsii gave specific amplification of a 434-base pair DNA fragment from the genome of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and endemic and epidemic typhus. The assay could detect as few as 30 rickettsiae. Detection of PCR-amplified DNA with a nonradioactive DNA probe confirmed an acute infection with Rickettsia prowazekii.