MOLECULAR BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE DIAGNOSIS AND INTRASPECIES TYPING OF THE CAUSATIVE AGENTS OF GLANDERS AND MELIOIDOSIS

摘要

Pathogenic Burkholderia species - Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei - are the causative agents of glanders and melioidosis, serious infectious diseases of humans and animals. They are regarded as potential agents of bioterrorism. The existing bacteriological and immunological methods of identification of B. mallei and B. pseudomallei are not effective enough for their rapid diagnosis and strain typing. This work presents molecular methods for the detection of these pathogens using PCR and hybridization, strain typing on the basis of the comparative analysis of the spectrum of total cell proteins, RAPD, ribotyping, plasmid and restriction analyses.