TY - JOUR AU - Svraka, Sanela AU - Rolain, Jean-Marc AU - Bechah, Yassina AU - Gatabazi, John AU - Raoult, Didier T1 - Rickettsia prowazekii and Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2006 VL - 12 IS - 3 SP - 428 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Rickettsia prowazekii is the causative agent of epidemic typhus and a potential bioterrorism agent. Sensitive and specific rapid assays are needed to complement existing methods of detecting this organism. We developed a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay by using a species-specific probe targeting the gltA gene. This assay, which was rapid, specific for R. prowazekii only, and sensitive (cutoff detection of 1 to 5 copies per sample), detected and directly identified R. prowazekii in blood of 12 experimentally infected mice sampled at day 3 and 6 postinfection or in naturally or experimentally infected lice. Because our assay is highly standardized and easily adaptable, it could improve epidemic typhus surveillance in public health programs, especially for countries with underdiagnosed or unrecognized human cases. KW - Rickettsia prowazekii KW - real-time PCR KW - epidemic typhus KW - bioterrorism KW - research KW - Rwanda DO - 10.3201/eid1203.050888 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/3/05-0888_article ER - End of Reference