ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2007
Development of a real-time PCR assay to detect Treponema pallidum in clinical specimens and assessment of the assay's performance by comparison with serological testing.
Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 108 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of Diagnostic Accuracy of PCR Targeting the 47-Kilodalton Protein Membrane Gene of Treponema pallidum and PCR Targeting the DNA Polymerase I Gene: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2015Pooled it
- Molecular and serological evidence of systemiciScience · 2026Article
- The Proportion ofOpen forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Alternative treponemal serology assays for diagnosis and confirmation of syphilis in a diagnostic laboratory: a retrospective evaluation of four agglutination assays and one ELISA.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2025Article
- Assessing the risks for stillbirth in São Paulo, Brazil: protocol for a multidisciplinary case-control study - FetRisks.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Modelling of doxycycline-based prevention of bacterial sexually transmitted infections in comparison to condom-based and test-based prevention.European journal of microbiology & immunology · 2024Article
- Treponema pallidum Detection at Asymptomatic Oral, Anal, and Vaginal Sites in Adults Reporting Sexual Contact with Persons with Syphilis.Emerging infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Screening for Resistant Bacteria, Antimicrobial Resistance Genes, Sexually Transmitted Infections andPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Detection of Treponema pallidum DNA During Early Syphilis Stages in Peripheral Blood, Oropharynx, Ano-Rectum and Urine as a Proxy for Transmissibility.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2022Article
- Use of a Multiplex PCR Assay To Assess the Presence of Treponema pallidum in Mucocutaneous Ulcerations in Patients with Suspected Syphilis.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2021Article
- Comparative Analysis of Molecular and Serologic Testing for Primary Syphilis: A Population-Based Cohort Study.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
- Geographically structured genomic diversity of non-human primate-infectingMicrobial genomics · 2020Article
- Epidemic of venereal treponematosis in wild monkeys: a paradigm for syphilis origin.New microbes and new infections · 2020Article
- Article
- A Metataxonomic Tool to Investigate the Diversity ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- Sensitive detection of Treponema pallidum DNA from the whole blood of patients with syphilis by the nested PCR assay.Emerging microbes & infections · 2018Article
- Detection of Treponema pallidum Sp. Pallidum DNA in Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) by Two PCR Techniques.Journal of clinical laboratory analysis · 2016Article
- Validation of serological tests for the detection of antibodies against Treponema pallidum in nonhuman primates.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2015Article
- The endemic treponematoses.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2014Review
- Clinical prediction and diagnosis of neurosyphilis in HIV-infected patients with early Syphilis.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The incidence of infectious syphilis in men who have sex with men and human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients has increased steadily in Victoria, Australia, since 2002. A TaqMan real-time PCR assay targeting the polA gene of Treponema pallidum (TpPCR) was developed. The analytical sensitivity of the assay was estimated to be 1.75 target copies per reaction. Initially, the assay was used to test a variety of specimens (excluding blood) from 598 patients. Of the 660 tests performed, positive PCR results were obtained for 55 patients. TpPCR results were compared with serology results for 301 patients being investigated for early syphilis. Of these patients, 41 were positive by both TpPCR and serology, 246 were negative by both TpPCR and serology, 4 were TpPCR positive but negative by serology, and 10 were TpPCR negative but showed evidence of recent or active infection by serology. Directly compared with serology, TpPCR showed 95% agreement, with a sensitivity of 80.39% and a specificity of 98.40%. Potential factors leading to the discrepant results are discussed. Concurrent serology on 21 patients with TpPCR-positive primary syphilitic lesions demonstrated that a panel of current syphilis serological tests has high sensitivity for the detection of early syphilis. We found that TpPCR is a useful addition to serology for the diagnosis of infectious syphilis. Direct comparison with other T. pallidum PCR assays will be required to fully assess the limitations of the assay.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.