Bordetella pertussis PCR: simultaneous targeting of signature sequences.

The absence of analytical controls for polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic tests for Bordetella pertussis limits their clinical utility. In this study, multiplex PCR simultaneously targeted two specific Bordetella pertussis sequences, the chromosomal repeated insertion sequence IS481 (IS) and the pertussis toxin promoter region (PT). A multi-target hybridization-EIA (Hyb-EIA) method in a 96-well microtiter-plate format was used to detect amplicons.