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Detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA in clinical and environmental samples using serological analysis and PCR

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Abstract

Background

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae and persists as a serious public health problem in Brazil. This microorganism is inculturable, making it difficult to diagnose and elucidate details of its transmission chain. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the dynamics of environmental transmission of M. leprae in a case–control study in the city of Mossoró, Brazil.

Methods and results

Data of clinical, epidemiological, bacilloscopic, and serological evaluation of 22 newly diagnosed patients were compared, with molecular results of detection of specific genome regions RLEP and 16S rRNA of M. leprae in samples of the nasal swab, saliva, and house dust of these individuals and their controls (44 household contacts and 44 peridomiciliar contacts). The rapid serological tests evaluated, ML flow (IgM ND-O-BSA) and OrangeLife® (IgM and IgG anti NDO-LID 1) showed similar results, with greater positivity among paucibacillaries by OrangeLife® (54.5%). Positivity for nasal swab and saliva in multibacillary patients with RLEP primer was 16.7% and 33.3%, respectively. There was no detection of bacterial DNA in house dust or among paucibacillaries. The OrangeLife® test indicated that the lower the amount of windows, the more transmission in the house (3.79 more chances). Having a history of leprosy cases in the family increased the risk by 2.89 times, and being over 60 years of age gave 3.6 times more chances of acquiring the disease. PCR positivity was higher among all clinical samples using the M. leprae RLEP region than 16S rRNA.

Conclusions

In this study, the serological and PCR analysis were capable of detecting M. leprae DNA in clinical samples but not in the environmental samples. Close monitoring of patients and household contacts appears an effective measure to reduce the transmission of leprosy in endemic areas.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciências Agronômicas e Florestais, Centro de Ciências Vegetais, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Av. Francisco Mota, 572, Costa e Silva, Caixa-postal: 137, Mossoró, RN, CEP 59625-900, Brazil

    Ismênia Glauce de Oliveira Barreto da Silveira, Jorge Alves da Silva Neto, Tatiane Severo Silva & Ioná Santos Araújo Holanda

  2. Multiuser Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Animal Parasitology, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, Brazil

    Jéssica da Silva Ferreira

  3. Laboratory of Molecular Biology Applied to Mycobacteria, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Jéssica da Silva Ferreira

Authors
  1. Ismênia Glauce de Oliveira Barreto da Silveira
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  2. Jorge Alves da Silva Neto
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  3. Jéssica da Silva Ferreira
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  4. Tatiane Severo Silva
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  5. Ioná Santos Araújo Holanda
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Contributions

Conceptualization: ISdAH, Methodology: IGdOBdS, Formal analysis and investigation: JAdSN and JdSF, Writing—original draft preparation: IGdOBdS, Writing—review and editing: TSS, Supervision: ISdAH. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tatiane Severo Silva.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board of the Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Norte (CAAE 47180115.1.0000.5294) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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All the authors agree and approved the manuscript for publication.

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Consent to participate was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Barreto da Silveira, I.G.O., da Silva Neto, J.A., da Silva Ferreira, J. et al. Detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA in clinical and environmental samples using serological analysis and PCR. Mol Biol Rep 48, 6887–6895 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06691-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06691-5

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