Table 1.
Percentage clinical sensitivity | |||||
Sample | Rickettsia | Method | Number of assays | Median (IQR) | References |
All | PanRick | All | 145 | 23 (15–34) | [43,▪, 44,54] |
SFGR | 331 | 48 (34–65) | [53, 54] | ||
TGR | 257 | 5 (3–7) | [43▪,44] | ||
Skin | All | All | 233 | 43 (7–55) | [43▪,54] |
SFGR | 101 | 67 (55–79) | |||
TGR | 88 | 6 (5–6) | |||
Blood | All | All | 331 | 18 (4–30) | [43▪,44] |
PanRick | 101 | 18 (12–23) | |||
SFGR | 230 | 42 (24–56) | |||
TGR | 169 | 3 (2–10) | |||
All | PanRick | Real-time PCR | 525 | 7 (4–23) | [43▪,44] |
SFGR | Real-time PCR | 123 | 23 (14–33) | ||
TGR | Real-time PCR | 257 | 5 (3–7) | ||
SFGR | Nested PCR | 29 | 31 (31–31) | [53] | |
SFGR | Conventional PCR | 179 | 69 (61–80) | [53, 54] |
aDerived from studies for which serologic and PCR results on more than 10 patients were reported since 2013 identified using search terms ‘rickettsia’, ‘spotted fever’, ‘typhus’ and ‘PCR’, ‘real-time PCR’, ‘nested-PCR’, ‘qPCR’, ‘quantitative PCR’. PanRick – assays that target the genus Rickettsia; SFGR – assays that target spotted fever group rickettsiae; TGR – assays that target typhus group rickettsiae. Number of assays column includes total assays reported, including some on the same samples but different approaches or targets. IQR, interquartile range.