Applications of polymerase chain reaction-based methods for the diagnosis of plague (Review)

Yanan Zhang; Zhanli Wang; Wenrui Wang; Hui Yu; Min Jin

doi:10.3892/etm.2022.11438

Applications of polymerase chain reaction-based methods for the diagnosis of plague (Review)

Exp Ther Med. 2022 Jun 14;24(2):511. doi: 10.3892/etm.2022.11438. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Authors

Yanan Zhang¹, Zhanli Wang¹, Wenrui Wang², Hui Yu^{1

3}, Min Jin^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Disease-Related Biomarkers, Baotou Medical College, Baotou, Inner Mongolia 014060, P.R. China.
² General Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Huhehot, Inner Mongolia 010031, P.R. China.
³ School of Basic Medicine, Baotou Medical College, Baotou, Inner Mongolia 014060, P.R. China.
⁴ School of Public Health, Baotou Medical College, Baotou, Inner Mongolia 014060, P.R. China.

Abstract

Plague is an acute bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis. The three major clinical forms of plague are bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic, which have high case-mortality rates. Therefore, rapid and reliable diagnostic tools are crucial. Currently, bacteriological means and traditional serological assays are used for detecting infection with Y. pestis. However, such methods have their limitations. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most useful tools for rapid diagnosis of plague. The present review introduced the main PCR techniques and their applications for detecting and confirmation of Y. pestis. The advantages and disadvantages of the different PCR methods were also summarized.

Keywords: Yersinia pestis; molecular diagnosis; plague; polymerase chain reaction techniques.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

Funding: The present study was supported by Key Scientific and Technology Project of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (grant no. 2021ZD0006).