ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Development of Real-Time PCR Assay
for Detection of Vibrio cholerae
Agata Bielawska-Drózd, Tomasz Mirski, Michał Bartoszcze, Piotr Cieślik,
Anna Roszkowiak, Aleksander Michalski
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Biological Threat Identification and Countermeasure Centre of the Military Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology,
2 Lubelska, 24-100 Puławy, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(2):279-288
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Vibrio cholerae is the etiological agent of epidemic cholera. Symptoms include stomach ache, bloody
diarrhea, and vomiting, which lead to severe dehydration and even death. Environmental monitoring as well
as rapid and accurate identification of this pathogen are important for public health protection. In this study, a
real-time PCR method for the detection of toxigenic V. cholerae was developed. In total, 63 environmental and
clinical strains were tested for the presence of seven targets, namely ompW, ompU, tcpA, ctxA, zot, rfbO1, and
rfbO139. The proposed method is specific, simple, and fast, and can be used for detection of toxigenic and
non-toxigenic V. cholerae strains. The minimum detection limit of this assay for V. cholerae in environmental
water samples was 1.4 CFU/ml.