Rickettsiales and rickettsial diseases in Australia - Murdoch ...
Rickettsiales and rickettsial diseases in Australia - Murdoch ...
Rickettsiales and rickettsial diseases in Australia - Murdoch ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
1.5. Methods of identification <strong>and</strong> characterisation of<br />
<strong>Rickettsiales</strong><br />
1.5.1. Sta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
Organisms <strong>in</strong> the order <strong>Rickettsiales</strong> are considered Gram-negative-like,<br />
however they sta<strong>in</strong> very poorly with the Gram sta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g method 136 <strong>and</strong> are<br />
typically sta<strong>in</strong>ed us<strong>in</strong>g Giemsa or Gimenez sta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g methods 92 . This technique<br />
works particularly well with members of the Anaplasmataceae family, as they<br />
form clusters with<strong>in</strong> vacuoles <strong>in</strong> the host cell <strong>and</strong> are therefore quite clearly<br />
visible when sta<strong>in</strong>ed 31, 76 . The exception to this is Anaplasma platys, which is<br />
often difficult to detect due to low or absent numbers dur<strong>in</strong>g certa<strong>in</strong> stages of its<br />
cyclic parasitaemia 28, 101, 148 . Immunohistochemical sta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g of biopsy samples<br />
can also be an effective method of <strong>rickettsial</strong> detection; however this method<br />
has limited specificity <strong>in</strong> detect<strong>in</strong>g different species 176 .<br />
1.5.2. Serology<br />
The first serological method for detection of <strong>rickettsial</strong> disease (the Weil-Felix<br />
test) was designed <strong>in</strong> 1916 276 . This method relied on the cross-reaction of<br />
<strong>rickettsial</strong> antibodies with Proteus vulgaris stra<strong>in</strong>s OX2 <strong>and</strong> OX19 for SFG <strong>and</strong><br />
TG <strong>and</strong> P. mirabilis stra<strong>in</strong> OXK for STG rickettsia 201 . This test however has both<br />
low sensitivity <strong>and</strong> specificity 97 . Rickettsial antibodies <strong>in</strong> human <strong>and</strong> animal<br />
specimens have s<strong>in</strong>ce been detected us<strong>in</strong>g various methods <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
complement fixation (CF) 229 , enzyme-l<strong>in</strong>ked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) 100<br />
<strong>and</strong> immunofluorescence assay (IFA) 97 . Of these, IFA is considered the<br />
reference method for the detection of antibodies to both Rickettsiaceae <strong>and</strong><br />
13