ABSTRACT
Although multidrug therapy (MDT) has been widely used for the treatment of leprosy for nearly 40 y, the disease remains a public health concern in some areas. The early detection of leprosy cases is vital to interrupt Mycobacterium leprae transmission, but currently diagnosis is typically achieved during the recognition of clinical symptoms by professional staff performing physical examinations in conjunction with microbiological assessment of slit skin smears (SSSs) and histopathology. In the last 10 y, serum antibody detection tests have emerged to aid leprosy diagnosis. Here we evaluated the ability of antigens NDO-BSA and LID-1 (ML0405 and ML2331) and the conjugate of these, NDO-LID, to detect antibodies in the sera of 113 leprosy patients and 166 control individuals in Yunnan province in southwest China. We found that each antigen was readily detected by sera from multibacillary (MB) patients, with sensitivities of 97.3%, 97.3% and 98.6% for NDO-BSA, LID-1 and NDO-LID, respectively. Even among paucibacillary (PB) patients the antigens detected antibodies in 74.4%, 56.4% and 69.2% of serum samples, respectively. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis indicated that, irrespective of the leprosy case classification as MB or PB, the detection efficiency obtained with NDO-LID was better than that obtained with the other two antigens (with LID-1 being a slightly better than NDO-BSA). Our results indicate the utility of NDO-LID in assisting in the diagnosis of PB and MB leprosy patients and that these antibody detection assays represent powerful diagnostic tools. We suggest that could be implemented into the procedures of local health centres in leprosy-endemic regions to assist in earlier diagnosis.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Bacterial/analysis , Antigens, Bacterial/immunology , Leprosy , China/epidemiology , Drug Therapy, Combination , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Female , Humans , Leprosy/diagnosis , Leprosy/epidemiology , Male , Mycobacterium leprae/immunologyABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the HOOF genotyping characteristics of 83 Brucella (B.)melitensis strains isolated in Ulanqab of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 2012 to 2015.Methods A total of 83 B.melitensis strains were detected by convention identification and AMOS-PCR,then HOOF protocol with eight VNTR locus were used for the genotyping of the strains,and the allelic diversity of each VNTR locus and the discriminatory power of VNTR typing of HOOF were assessed by Hunter-Gaston Discriminatory index.BioNumerics 5.0 was used for phylogenetic analysis and constructing dendrogram.Results All of the isolates were identified as B.melitensis strains by two identification methods.The complete eight VNTR locus had higher polymophism and diversity index was 0.998;and diversity index of six locus (1,2 and 4-7) were ≥0.678,discriminatory power of HOOF was mainly from this six higher diversity index locus.The 83 B.melitensis strains were classified into eight clusters and 76 genotypes,6 shared genotypes included 13 isolates,indicating that these brucellosis cases had epidemiological link,the other 70 strains had distinct genotypes,indicating that these cases had no epidemiological link.Conclusions The epidemic of human brucellosis in Ulanqab was characterized by local and sporadic outbreaks.Cross infection was related with the transfer of the sources of infection.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the HOOF genotyping characteristics of 83 Brucella (B.)melitensis strains isolated in Ulanqab of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 2012 to 2015.Methods A total of 83 B.melitensis strains were detected by convention identification and AMOS-PCR,then HOOF protocol with eight VNTR locus were used for the genotyping of the strains,and the allelic diversity of each VNTR locus and the discriminatory power of VNTR typing of HOOF were assessed by Hunter-Gaston Discriminatory index.BioNumerics 5.0 was used for phylogenetic analysis and constructing dendrogram.Results All of the isolates were identified as B.melitensis strains by two identification methods.The complete eight VNTR locus had higher polymophism and diversity index was 0.998;and diversity index of six locus (1,2 and 4-7) were ≥0.678,discriminatory power of HOOF was mainly from this six higher diversity index locus.The 83 B.melitensis strains were classified into eight clusters and 76 genotypes,6 shared genotypes included 13 isolates,indicating that these brucellosis cases had epidemiological link,the other 70 strains had distinct genotypes,indicating that these cases had no epidemiological link.Conclusions The epidemic of human brucellosis in Ulanqab was characterized by local and sporadic outbreaks.Cross infection was related with the transfer of the sources of infection.
