17.05.2013 Views

Rickettsiales and rickettsial diseases in Australia - Murdoch ...

Rickettsiales and rickettsial diseases in Australia - Murdoch ...

Rickettsiales and rickettsial diseases in Australia - Murdoch ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

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

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!