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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2001, p. 4111-4118, Vol. 39, No. 11
Danish Veterinary Laboratory,
Copenhagen,1 and Department of Clinical
Microbiology2 and Institute of
Pathology,3 Aalborg Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark,
and Vest-Agder Sentralsykehus, Kristiansand,
Norway4
Received 27 February 2001/Returned for modification 19 June
2001/Accepted 16 July 2001
Human intestinal spirochetosis, characterized by end-on
attachment of densely packed spirochetes to the epithelial surface of
the large intestines as a fringe has been associated with the weakly
beta-hemolytic spirochetes Brachyspira aalborgi and
Brachyspira (Serpulina)
pilosicoli. In this study, fluorescent in situ
hybridization with oligonucleotide probes targeting 16S or 23S rRNA of
B. aalborgi, B. pilosicoli, and the genus
Brachyspira was applied to 40 sections of
formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded intestinal biopsy specimens from 23 Danish and 15 Norwegian patients with histologic evidence of intestinal
spirochetosis. Five biopsy specimens from patients without intestinal
spirochetosis and three samples from pigs with experimental B. pilosicoli colitis were examined as well. In addition, the 16S
ribosomal DNAs of two clinical isolates of B. aalborgi were
sequenced, and a PCR procedure was developed for the identification of
B. aalborgi in cultures. The genotypic characteristics of
the two clinical isolates showed very high (99.5%) similarity with two
existing isolates, the type strain of B. aalborgi and a
Swedish isolate. Hybridization with the Brachyspira
genus-specific probe revealed a brightly fluorescing fringe of
spirochetes on the epithelia of 39 biopsy specimens, whereas 1 biopsy
specimen was hybridization negative. The spirochetes in biopsy
specimens from 13 Danish and 8 Norwegian patients (55.3%) were
identified as B. aalborgi. The spirochetes in the biopsy
specimens from the other 17 patients hybridized only with the
Brachyspira probe, possibly demonstrating the involvement
of as-yet-uncharacterized Brachyspira spirochetes in human
intestinal spirochetosis.
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.11.4111-4118.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Diagnostic Examination of Human Intestinal
Spirochetosis by Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization for
Brachyspira aalborgi, Brachyspira pilosicoli, and
Other Species of the Genus Brachyspira
(Serpulina)
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Danish
Veterinary Laboratory, Bülowsvej 27, DK-1790 Copenhagen V,
Denmark. Phone: 45 3530 0100. Fax: 45 3530 0120. E-mail:
tkj{at}svs.dk.
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