Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29045605›Full record

ArticleClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2018

Diagnostics for Yaws Eradication: Insights From Direct Next-Generation Sequencing of Cutaneous Strains of Treponema pallidum.

Michael Marks, Maria Fookes, Josef Wagner, Robert Butcher, Rosanna Ghinai, Oliver Sokana, Yaw-Adu Sarkodie, Sheila A Lukehart, Anthony W Solomon, David C W Mabey and 1 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
2.6field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Yaws in Africa: Past, Present and Future.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Treponema pallidum SubspeciesMicrobiology spectrum · 2022
    Article
  10. Article
  11. LAMP4yaws:BMJ open · 2022
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. A Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for the Detection ofThe American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2020
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Michael MarksClinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London.
Maria FookesWellcome Trust Sanger Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Josef WagnerWellcome Trust Sanger Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Robert ButcherClinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London.
Rosanna GhinaiClinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London.
Oliver SokanaSolomon Islands Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Honiara.
Yaw-Adu SarkodieKwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Sheila A LukehartDepartments of Medicine and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle.
Anthony W SolomonClinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London.
David C W MabeyClinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London.
Nicholas ThomsonWellcome Trust Sanger Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Hospital for Tropical Diseases · VNWellcome Sanger Institute · GBLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine · GBKwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology · GHUniversity of Washington · US

Funding

Wellcome Trust 098051Wellcome Trust 102807
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Yaws-like chronic ulcers can be caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, Haemophilus ducreyi, or other, still-undefined bacteria. To permit accurate evaluation of yaws elimination efforts, programmatic use of molecular diagnostics is required. The accuracy and sensitivity of current tools remain unclear because our understanding of T. pallidum diversity is limited by the low number of sequenced genomes. Methods: We tested samples from patients with suspected yaws collected in the Solomon Islands and Ghana. All samples were from patients whose lesions had previously tested negative using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) diagnostic assay in widespread use. However, some of these patients had positive serological assays for yaws on blood. We used direct whole-genome sequencing to identify T. pallidum subsp pertenue strains missed by the current assay. Results: From 45 Solomon Islands and 27 Ghanaian samples, 11 were positive for T. pallidum DNA using the species-wide quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, from which we obtained 6 previously undetected T. pallidum subsp pertenue whole-genome sequences. These show that Solomon Islands sequences represent distinct T. pallidum subsp pertenue clades. These isolates were invisible to the CDC diagnostic PCR assay, due to sequence variation in the primer binding site. Conclusions: Our data double the number of published T. pallidum subsp pertenue genomes. We show that Solomon Islands strains are undetectable by the PCR used in many studies and by health ministries. This assay is therefore not adequate for the eradication program. Next-generation genome sequence data are essential for these efforts.

Indexed as

High-Throughput Nucleotide SequencingChildDisease EradicationFemaleGenome, BacterialGhanaHumansMaleMelanesiaMolecular Diagnostic TechniquesReal-Time Polymerase Chain ReactionSequence Analysis, DNASkin UlcerTreponema pallidumWhole Genome SequencingYaws

Identifiers

PMID29045605
PMCPMC5848336
OpenAlexW2766483476

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.