Babesia is a parasite that can be transmitted to humans and animals, where it causes infection. With methods like microscopic staining of blood smears, that do not give us the information about the species, and indirect immunofluorescence, that we can not use on immunocompromised patients, real time PCR seems to be a much better choice for diagnostics. Within M. Sc. Thesis we developed real time PCR for detection of Babesia species DNA, found in humans and animals around Slovenia. We proved that real time PCR is a more sensitive and specific method than the microscopic staining of blood smears and conventional PCR. As a selection marker we used 18S rRNA gene with hipervariable sections that are surrounded with highly conservative regions. Our real time PCR amplifies strain of human Babesia sp. Irk, that was first found in 2014 in an immunocompromised patient from Prekmurje. By using absolute quantification of a digital PCR, we were able to follow parasitemia and treatment of the patient and detected DNA of the parasite even after 89 days from the beginning of the treatment, when all the other methods showed negative results. In conclusion, we can say that real time PCR is a quick, highly sensitive method that is easy to use and is useful for detection of babesial DNA at the beginning of the infection as well as for monitoring the course of treatment.
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