Rapid detection of Borrelia burgdorferi strains by nested polymerase chain reaction.

This study was carried out to evaluate the nested PCR for specific detection of different strains of B. burgdorferi. Five strains of B. burgdorferi including ACA-1, B-31, 2B45, 3B45, 7B49 obtained from different countries were used in this study. The strains of B. hermsii, Escherichia. coli and T. pallidum were also included as control strains. Two pairs of nested PCR primers were used to amplify the gene encoding the Osp-A protein of B. burgdorfer under standard PCR condition. In a two stage procedure, nested PCR yielded a positive reaction for five tested strains of B. burgdorferi. None the strains including B. hermsii, E. coli and T. pallidum showed positive reaction when used as control strains in PCR. In conclusion, nested PCR showed acceptable specificity for rapid detection ofB. burgdorferi.