Effects of various handling and storage conditions on stability of Treponema pallidum DNA in cerebrospinal fluid.

Treponema pallidum DNA from even small numbers of organisms was detectable in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) stored at room temperature or at 4 degrees C for several hours and in CSF subjected to three freeze-thaw cycles. These results suggest that negative PCR results for T. pallidum from patients diagnosed with T. pallidum invasion of the central nervous system are probably not due to the loss of target DNA prior to testing.