Ground Anthrax Bacillus Refined Isolation (GABRI) method for analyzing environmental samples with low levels of Bacillus anthracis contamination

BMC Microbiology

Methodology Article

Valeriana Colao¹  Domenico Buonavoglia¹  Martin Hugh-Jones²  Rosanna Adone³  Pietro Di Taranto⁴  Leonardo Marino⁴  Antonio Fasanella⁴  Carmine Pedarra⁴  Giuliano Garofolo⁵ 

[1] Departement of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Bari, Italy;Department of Environmental Sciences School of the Coast & Environment, Louisiana State University, 70803-5703, Baton Rouge, LA, USA;Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy;Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Anthrax Reference Institute of Italy, Foggia, Italy;Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “G. Caporale”, Teramo, Italy;

关键词: Bacillus anthracis;    Contaminated soil;    Isolation;    Method;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2180-13-167

 received in 2013-04-04, accepted in 2013-07-03,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn this work are reported the results of a qualitative analytical method capable of detecting Bacillus anthracis spores when they are present in very low concentration in the soil. The Ground Anthrax Bacillus Refined Isolation (GABRI) method, assessed in our laboratory, was compared with the classic method. The comparison involved artificially anthrax-contaminated soil samples (500 spores/7.5 grams soil) and naturally contaminated soil samples collected in Bangladesh during a field investigation.ResultsThe results indicated that, in contrast to the classic method, the GABRI method was able to detect B.anthracis in all contaminated samples. The GABRI method produces a more sensitive measure of anthrax spore presence significantly different from the standard method. In particular, the latter is more sensitive to the presence of normal soil contaminants.ConclusionThe main feature of the GABRI method is its ability to strongly reduce the presence of the environmental contaminants, which being much more numerous than B. anthracis tend to inhibit their germination and growth making it extremely difficult to visualize any colonies. The reduction of the microbial environment also allows one to be able to culture and test a larger quantity of potentially contaminated soil and to isolate B. anthracis when the spores are present in very low concentrations in the soil.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Fasanella et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013