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J. Clin. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/JCM.01192-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

The first case of type E wound botulism was diagnosed using real-time PCR

Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden, Applied Microbiology, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden,, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Clinical Sciences, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: Elisabet.Holst{at}med.lu.se.

	Abstract

Wound botulism is a growing problem among injecting drug users. The condition is often difficult to diagnose, with a laboratory confirmation in only 50% of the cases. We here present a real-time PCR-based method for diagnosis of wound botulism caused by Clostridium botulinum. The assay includes an internal amplification control which is co-amplified simultaneously with the genes encoding neurotoxin types A, B and E. This method was used to detect the first Swedish case of wound botulism in an injecting drug user. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of wound botulism caused by C. botulinum type E.

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