TY - JOUR T1 - Polymerase chain reaction for screening clinical isolates of corynebacteria for the production of diphtheria toxin. JF - Journal of Clinical Pathology JO - J Clin Pathol SP - 353 LP - 356 DO - 10.1136/jcp.47.4.353 VL - 47 IS - 4 AU - M J Pallen AU - A J Hay AU - L H Puckey AU - A Efstratiou Y1 - 1994/04/01 UR - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/47/4/353.abstract N2 - AIMS--To assess the performance of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) when used to screen rapidly large numbers of corynebacteria for toxin production; and to determine the incidence of false positive PCR results with non-toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae isolates. METHODS--Eighty seven recent British isolates of corynebacteria were assayed by PCR. All isolates were assayed from both blood and tellurite agar within a five day period. Thirty three non-toxigenic isolates of C diphtheriae from six countries were also tested by PCR and by the Elek immunodiffusion assay. RESULTS--There was complete concordance between the results of PCR and traditional methods on the recent British isolates, with one exception: an Elek positive "C ulcerans" isolate, which was PCR positive from tellurite but not from blood agar. One of the thirty three (3%) non-toxigenic isolates of C diphtheriae was PCR positive. CONCLUSIONS--These results suggest that PCR compares favourably with traditional methods for the detection of toxigenic corynebacteria and that it represents a powerful new tool in the diagnosis of an old disease. ER -