RESEARCH ARTICLE
Infective Arthritis: Bacterial 23S rRNA Gene Sequencing as a Supplementary Diagnostic Method
Claus Moser1, 2, Keld Andresen1, Anne Kjerulf1, 3, Suheil Salamon1, 4, Michael Kemp1, Jens Jørgen Christensen1, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 85
Last Page: 88
Publisher ID: TOMICROJ-2-85
DOI: 10.2174/1874285800802010085
Article History:
Received Date: 16/5/2008Revision Received Date: 23/5/2008
Acceptance Date: 29/5/2008
Electronic publication date: 13/6/2008
Collection year: 2008

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Consecutively collected synovial fluids were examined for presence of bacterial DNA (a 700-bp fragment of the bacterial 23S rRNA gene) followed by DNA sequencing of amplicons, and by conventional bacteriological methods. One or more microorganisms were identified in 22 of the 227 synovial fluids (9,7%) originating from 17 patients. Sixteen of the patients had clinical signs of arthritis. For 11 patients molecular and conventional bacterial examinations were in agreement. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae, were detected in synovial fluids from 6, 2 and 2 patients, respectively. In 3 patients only 23S rRNA analysis was positive; 2 synovial fluids contained S. dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis and 1 S. pneumoniae). The present study indicates a significant contribution by PCR with subsequent DNA sequencing of the 23S rRNA gene analysis in recognizing and identification of microorganisms from synovial fluids.