Diagnostic Microbiology & Infectious Disease
Volume 67, Issue 3 , Pages 239-245, July 2010

Evaluation of a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of Dientamoeba fragilis☆

  • Adriana Calderaro

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University Hospital of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +39-0521-988885; fax: +39-0521-993620.
    • ,
  • Chiara Gorrini

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University Hospital of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy
    • ,
  • Sara Montecchini

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University Hospital of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy
    • ,
  • Simona Peruzzi

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University Hospital of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy
    • ,
  • Giovanna Piccolo

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University Hospital of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy
    • ,
  • Sabina Rossi

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University Hospital of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy
    • ,
  • Franco Gargiulo

      Affiliations

    • Department of Experimental and Applied Medicine, Institute of Microbiology, Spedali Civili, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy
    • ,
  • Nino Manca

      Affiliations

    • Department of Experimental and Applied Medicine, Institute of Microbiology, Spedali Civili, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy
    • ,
  • Giuseppe Dettori

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University Hospital of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy
    • ,
  • Carlo Chezzi

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University Hospital of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy

Received 9 December 2009; accepted 14 February 2010. published online 12 May 2010.

Abstract 

The diagnostic value of a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting the 5.8S rDNA of Dientamoeba fragilis was investigated as compared with conventional parasitologic methods including cultivation testing 959 fecal samples from 491 patients attending a tertiary-care hospital and suspected of having an intestinal parasitosis. The real-time PCR assay revealed 117 additional D. fragilis-positive samples as compared with conventional methods, showing 100% sensitivity and specificity in our experience. On the whole, D. fragilis infection was detected in 186 samples from 105 patients (21.4%, third in frequency among the diagnosed intestinal parasitoses). The evaluated real-time PCR assay represents an effective tool to obtain both an accurate diagnosis and a reliable epidemiologic picture of dientamoebiasis.

Keywords: Real-time PCR, Diagnosis, Dientamoeba fragilis, Parasitosis

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☆ A.C. and C.G. conceived and designed the experiments. A.C., C.G., S.M., S.P., and G.P. performed the experiments. A.C. and S.R. performed conventional parasitological diagnostic methods. S.M., F.G., and N.M. performed sequencing. C.G. and S.M. did the sequence analysis. A.C., C.G., and S.M. wrote the paper. G.D. and C.C. conducted scientific supervision of the manuscript.

PII: S0732-8893(10)00052-0

doi:10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2010.02.016

Diagnostic Microbiology & Infectious Disease
Volume 67, Issue 3 , Pages 239-245, July 2010

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