Development of a Real-Time PCR for Identification of Brachyspira Species in Human Colonic Biopsies

is a potential zoonotic agent, however, since diagnosis in humans is based on histopathology of colon biopsies, species identification is not routinely performed in human materials.The study population comprised 57 patients with microscopic evidence of Brachyspira infection and 26 patients with no histopathological evidence of Brachyspira infection. Concomitant faecal samples were available from three infected patients. Based on publically available 16S rDNA gene sequences of all Brachyspira species, species-specific primer sets were designed. DNA was extracted and tested by real-time PCR and 16S rDNA was sequenced. was significantly associated with inflammatory changes in the colon-biopsy (p = 0.028).This newly designed PCR allows for sub-differentiation of Brachyspira species in patient material and thus allows large-scaled surveillance studies to elucidate the pathogenicity of human Brachyspira infections. One-third of affected patients appeared to be infected with a novel species