Br J Ophthalmol. Published Online First: 2 May 2007. doi:10.1136/bjo.2007.117523
Laboratory science - Scientific reports |
Diagnostic approaches for oculoglandular tularemia- advantages of PCR
1 National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Bulgaria
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ppadeshki{at}yahoo.com.
Accepted 1 April 2007
Abstract
Purpose: The current report describes a diagnostic approach that proved to be particularly valuable in rare cases of ocular tularemia registered during the tularemia outbreak 1997-2005 in Bulgaria. Herein we describe the laboratory findings and the diagnosis of four cases with oculoglandular form of infection.
Methods: Several different specimens from each patient were analyzed. Oculoglandular tularemia was diagnosed in four patients either by culture, immunofluorescent antibody analysis (IFA), serology or by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay.
Results and Discussion: Three F. tularensis strains were isolated and characterized. One of these was isolated from an conjuctival swab specimen obtained from a seronegative patient. We report for the first time a successful application of diagnostic PCR performed directly on conjuctival swab specimen. From all analyzed specimens the IFA was diagnostically effective only in case of lymph node aspirates but not sensitive enough for conjuctival swabs or blood samples. We also describe the histological picture of a conjunctival granuloma in course of infection. All patients were successfully treated with ciprofloxacin.
Conclusions: Some of the proposed laboratory diagnostic strategies (swab PCR) are not invasive and could represent a new approach for resolving rare and hard-to-diagnose cases of oculoglandular tularemia.
Keywords: Francisella tularensis, PCR analysis of eye swab, Parinaud�s syndrome, histology of conjunctival granuloma, oculoglandular tularemia
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Article
- BJO at a glance
- Creig Hoyt
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2007 91: 1099.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Full Text (Rapid PDF)
-
All Versions of this Article:
bjo.2007.117523v1
91/9/1206 most recent - Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
-
Author home page(s):
Todor V Kantardjiev
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
