XXXX contamination of chlamydiae isolated from clinical specimens.

@entity9463 @entity21334
Ten @entity21334 strains were screened for @entity9463 contamination using two differently designed @entity9463 -specific polymerase chain reactions (PCR). The primers of the @entity9463 -specific PCR designed by Spaepen et al. (9) cross-reacted with all of the @entity21334 strains giving false-positive results. When the 10 strains of @entity21334 were tested for mycoplasmas with the PCR designed by Harasawa et al. (5), only 3 were positive. Mycoplasmas were cultured from these three @entity21334 strains confirming the latter PCR results. The PCR of Harasawa et al. (5) was highly specific for mycoplasmas and did not cross-react with @entity21334 . These findings suggest that chlamydiae should be periodically screened for @entity9463 contamination. Careful attention to primer design is important if PCR is chosen as the screening method.
