Seroprevalence of Q fever, brucellosis and leptospirosis in farmers and agricultural workers in Bari, Southern Italy.

To establish the seroprevalence of antibodies to C. burnetii, Leptospira and Brucella in subjects at risk of exposure, 128 workers exposed to farm animals and 280 healthy blood donors were studied. Antibodies to C.

Current knowledge of rickettsial diseases in Italy.

Rickettsial diseases continue to be the cause of serious health problems in Italy. From 1998 to 2002, 4,604 clinical cases were reported, with 33 deaths in the period from 1998 to 2001. Almost all the cases reported in Italy are cases of Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF).

Rapid identification of Bartonella henselae by real-time polymerase chain reaction in a patient with cat scratch disease.

We report a localized submandibular lymph node infection in a patient with cat scratch disease. Directly performing real-time polymerase chain reaction assay on the biopsy sample, Bartonella henselae DNA was simultaneously detected and identified.

Rapid detection and differentiation of Bartonella spp. by a single-run real-time PCR.

A Real-time PCR for the identification and differentiation of Bartonella spp. based on the detection of mutations in an internal region of the gltA gene by thermal analysis was developed. The assay included a simultaneous detection of the amplicons by direct hybridization of LCRed and fluorescein-labelled probes coupled with melting curve analysis by the use of fluorescence resonance energy transfer technology.

Characterization of the first Bartonella henselae strain isolated from a cat in Italy.

Bartonella henselae has been identified and characterized for the first time in Italy. A strain, designed Pavia-1, was isolated from the blood of a cat whose owner developed cat scratch disease (CSD). Pavia-1 and two American B.

Differentiation of leptospires of the serogroup Pomona by monoclonal antibodies, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction.

All reference strains described as representing separate serovars belonging to the serogroup Pomona and a clinical leptospiral isolate (LP2) from this serogroup were analyzed using a battery of 9 monoclonal antibodies, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR). Monoclonal antibody analysis provided taxonomic results which were in agreement with the current classification of the serogroup Pomona into six serovars and allowed the classification of the isolate LP2 in the serovar pomona. PFGE and AP-PCR, although in general agreement with monoclonal antibody analysis, also were able to demonstrate some differences in the restriction patterns of strains Pomona, Monjakov and CB.