Evaluation of different PCR-assays for the early detection of acute and relapsing human brucellosis in comparison with the conventional methods PCR vs conventional tests for diagnosis of brucellosis

Human brucellosis is a significant public health problem, in many Mediterranean countries including Greece. The conventional serological methods as well as the blood cultures have serious limitations, especially in chronic, relapsing and focal forms of the disease. Four different PCR-assays were applied in 4926 buffy coat, whole blood and serum samples received from 200 patients admitted with brucellosis to the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece, for the rapid diagnosis of acute infection and relapses in comparison with blood culture and serological tests (Wright’s seroagglutination test, Coombs’ antibrucella test and Complement Fixation test). The four PCR-assays had excellent sensitivity and specificity and were able to detect all the cases of acute disease. Buffy coat and whole blood were the optimal specimens. All four PCR-assays were negative in all follow-up samples from 183 patients who had completed a successful treatment and were positive in all follow-up samples from 17 patients who had relapses in the first year after therapy, including the times of the relapses. In conclusion, PCR is a very useful tool for the rapid diagnosis of acute brucellosis and a good marker for the posttreatment follow-up and the early detection of relapses. AC CE PT ED Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved. J. Clin. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/JCM.00010-06 JCM Accepts, published online ahead of print on 31 January 2007 on N ovem er 3, 2017 by gest ht://jcm .sm .rg/ D ow nladed fom