Standardized Realtime – PCR assays for detection of Leptospira from clinical speciments in Vietnam

Abstract

Leptopirosis is a bacterial zoonotic disease caused by Leptospira, easily misdiagnosed with other infectious disase. Therefore, the dignosis of the disease in the early stage is very important in the patient treatment. The real time PCR assay detects the Leptospira in the early diseas stage, has been applied in many countries and is considered the optimal method for diagnosis of suspected Leptopirosis. In this study, real time PCR used primers and probe designed based on the nucleotide sequence of
the lipL32 gen, which is important virulence factor and is present only in pathogenic Leptospira species. The assay was standardized with 100% specifcity and a minimum detection limit of 9 copies/reaction. Applied this assay to detect DNA Leptospira from 120 blood and urine samples shown that there were 2 positive (1.7%). This realtime PCR application is useful at provincial/city laboratories in Vietnam.