Genetic Diversity of PCR-Positive, Culture-Negative and Culture-Positive Mycobacterium ulcerans Isolated from Buruli Ulcer Patients in Ghana
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Date
2014-02-10
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Publisher
PLOS One
Abstract
Culture of Mycobacterium ulcerans from Buruli ulcer patients has very low sensitivity. Thus confirmation of M. ulcerans
infection is primarily based on PCR directed against IS2404. In this study we compare the genotypes obtained by variable
number of tandem repeat analysis of DNA from IS2404-PCR positive cultures with that obtained from IS2404 positive,
culture-negative tissue. A significantly greater genetic heterogeneity was found among culture-negative samples compared
with that found in cultured strains but a single genotype is over-represented in both sample sets. This study provides
evidence that both the focal location of bacteria in a lesion as well as differences in the ability to culture a particular
genotype may underlie the low sensitivity of culture. Though preliminary, data from this work also suggests that
mycobacteria previously associated with fish disease (M. pseudoshottsii) may be pathogenic for humans.
Description
An article published by PLOS ONE and available at doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088007
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Citation
PLoS ONE 9(2): e88007. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088007