Molecular characterization of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum in Switzerland and France with a new multilocus sequence typing scheme.

Syphilis is an important public health problem and an increasing incidence has been noted in recent years. Characterization of strain diversity through molecular data plays a critical role in the epidemiological understanding of this re-emergence. We here propose a new high-resolution multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme for Treponema pallidum subsp.

Incidence of gonococcal and chlamydial infections and coverage of two laboratory surveillance networks, France, 2012.

Surveillance of sexually transmitted diseases in France is based on voluntary networks of laboratories and clinicians. Despite the importance of incidence data in improving knowledge about the national context and in international comparisons, such data were not previously available. During nationwide quality control of laboratories, mandatory for all laboratories, we conducted a survey in June 2013 to estimate the incidence rates of gonococcal and chlamydial infections for 2012 and to estimate the proportion of diagnoses performed (coverage) by the country's two laboratory-based sentinel networks for these diseases.

Use of Treponema pallidum PCR in testing of ulcers for diagnosis of primary syphilis.

Treponema pallidum PCR (Tp-PCR) has been noted as a valid method for diagnosing syphilis. We compared Tp-PCR to a combination of darkfield microscopy (DFM), the reference method, and serologic testing in a cohort of 273 patients from France and Switzerland and found the diagnostic accuracy of Tp-PCR was higher than that for DFM.

Performance of the 47-kilodalton membrane protein versus DNA polymerase I genes for detection of Treponema pallidum by PCR in ulcers.

Treponema pallidum PCR (Tp-PCR) is a direct diagnostic method for primary and secondary syphilis, but there is no recommendation regarding the best choice of target gene. In this study, we sequentially tested 272 specimens from patients with sexually transmitted ulcers using Tp-PCR targeting the tpp47 and then polA genes. The two methods showed similar accuracies and an almost-perfect agreement.

In vitro susceptibility profile of 200 recent clinical isolates of Candida spp. to topical antifungal treatments of vulvovaginal candidiasis, the imidazoles and nystatin agents.

Objective: Topical antifungal treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis is widely recommended. The most commonly recommended topical antifungals (the imidazoles clotrimazole, miconazole and econazole and the polyene nystatin) have been on the market for more than 30 years. There are only a few recent data available on the susceptibility of different Candida species to these antifungals, especially of non-albicans Candida species which appear to be less responsive to treatment with imidazoles.