| Popis: |
HACEK bacteria (Haemophilus spp., Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Cardiobacterium hominis, Eikenella corrodens and Kingella spp.), classified as fastidious and slow-growing Gram-negative coccobacilli, inhabit human oral cavity, and can cause infective endocarditis. The identification of the HACEK group of bacteria in blood samples from the infective endocarditis patients is known to be rather difficult and occasionally inconclusive by conventional culture methods, because the biochemical characteristics resemble each other. In this study, we developed a rapid and highly sensitive identification method for the HACEK group bacteria by means of 16S rRNA gene PCR amplification followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP) with HinfI and MspI. The 16S rRNA genes were successfully amplified from all the five representative strains of HACEK bacterial species, and typical restriction patterns of the five bacteria were obtained. The restriction patterns were readily distinguishable from each other and are also different from those of other 15 causative pathogens of infective endocarditis. |
