a quick and cost effective method for the diagnosis of mycobacterium ulcerans infection一个快速和成本诊断溃疡分枝杆菌感染的有效方法.pdfVIP

de Souza et al. BMC Infectious Diseases 2012, 12:8 /1471-2334/12/8 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access A quick and cost effective method for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium ulcerans infection 1* 1 1,2 3 1 Dziedzom K de Souza , Charles Quaye , Lydia Mosi , Phyllis Addo and Daniel A Boakye Abstract Background: Buruli ulcer (BU), a neglected tropical skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, has been reported in over 30 countries worldwide and is highly endemic in rural West and Central Africa. The mode of transmission remains unknown and treatment is the only alternative to disease control. Early and effective treatment to prevent the morbid effects of the disease depends on early diagnosis; however, current diagnosis based on clinical presentation and microscopy has to be confirmed by PCR and other tests in reference laboratories. As such confirmed BU diagnosis is either late, inefficient, time consuming or very expensive, and there is the need for an early diagnosis tool at point of care facilities. In this paper we report on a simple, quick and inexpensive diagnostic test that could be used at point of care facilities, in resource-poor settings. Methods: The methodology employed is based on the loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technique. Four sets of Primers, targeting the mycolactone encoding plasmid genome sequence of M. ulcerans were designed. The BU-LAMP assay was developed and tested on five M. ulcerans strains from patients in Ghana and two American Type Culture Control (ATCC) reference isolates; Ghana #970321 (D19F9) and Benin #990826 (D27D14). We also tested the assay on other closely related, mycolactone-producing mycobacterial strains; M. marinum 1218, M. marinum DL