Open AccessEvaluation of a real-time PCR assay for detection of Bordetella pertussis and B. parapertussis in clinical samples
Author(s) -
Katrin Kösters,
Marion Riffelmann,
Carl Heinz Wirsing von König
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of medical microbiology/journal of medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1473-5644
pISSN - 0022-2615
DOI - 10.1099/0022-1317-50-5-436
Subject(s) - bordetella pertussis , taqman , whooping cough , real time polymerase chain reaction , bordetella , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , pertussis toxin , biology , virology , bacteria , g protein , gene , genetics , vaccination , receptor , biochemistry
A real-time PCR assay based on the TaqMan technology was developed for the detection of Bordetella pertussis and B. parapertussis in clinical samples. The assay was evaluated with 182 specimens from 153 patients with and without symptoms of pertussis. The analytical sensitivity ranged from 0.1 to 10 cfu for B. pertussis and B. parapertussis, respectively, and diagnostic sensitivity was 94.1% when culture was used as a reference. No sample from a patient without symptoms of pertussis was positive in PCR. Twenty-four of 28 patients who were negative by culture and positive by PCR assay met the CDC clinical case definition for pertussis; the remaining four patients had paroxysms of shorter duration. Intra- and inter-assay variation were <5% and results were available within 4 h.