TABLE 1.
Sensitivities of RT-PCR and PCR in detecting E. chaffeensis in infected DH82 cells, experimentally infected dog PBMCs, and experimentally infected A. americanum tick specimens
| Specimens (no. of cells or ticks/10 μl of template) | Maximum dilution of specimens found positive (minimum amt of DNA or RNA detectable per reaction mixture)
|
|
|---|---|---|
| PCR | RT-PCR | |
| Infected DH82 cells (500,000 cells) | 1/108 (48 fg) | 1/1010 (3.5 fg) |
| Dog 30133 PBMCs (100,000 cells) | 1/101 (0.19 μg) | 1/103 (6.8 ng) |
| Dog 30146 PBMCs (100,000 cells) | 1/1 (1.26 μg) | 1/102 (3.6 ng) |
| Adult tick infected as adult on dog 30133 (2.5 ticks) | UDa (0.59 μg) | 1/102 (67 ng) |
| Adult tick infected as adult on dog 30146 (2.5 ticks) | UD (1.15 μg) | 1/102 (86 ng) |
| Adult tick infected as nymph on dog 30133 (2.5 ticks) | UD (0.87 μg) | 1/102 (130 ng) |
| Adult tick infected as nymph on dog 30146 (2.5 ticks) | 1/1 (1.48 μg) | 1/102 (190 ng) |
| Nymph infected as larvae on dog 30133 (5 ticks) | UD (0.18 μg) | 1/102 (11.8 ng) |
| Nymph infected as larvae on dog 30146 (5 ticks) | 1/1 (0.11 μg) | 1/102 (8.7 ng) |
a
UD, undetectable.