Tick-transmitted co-infections among erythema migrans patients in a general practice setting in Norway: a clinical and laboratory follow-up study

Table 1 Overview of the reagents and assays used for the molecular (a) and serological (b) analyses

(a)
Microorganism	Primer/probe	Nucleotide sequence (5′ → 3′)	Target gene	References
SFG Rickettsia spp.	CS-F	TCGCAAATGTTCACGGTACTTT	gltA	[22]
	CS-R	TCGTGCATTTCTTTCCATTGTG
	CS-P	FAM-TGCAATAGCAAGAACCGTAGG CTGGATG-BHQ1
A. phagocytophilum	ApF	TTTTGGGCGCTGAATACGAT	gltA	[6]
	ApR	TCTCGAGGGAATGATCTAATAACGT
	ApM	FAM-TGCCTGAACAAGTTATG-BHQ1
N. mikurensis	Forward	CGGAAATAACAAAAGATGGA	groEL	[12]
	Reverse	ACCTCCTCGATTACTTTAG
	Probe	6FAM-TTGGTGATGGAACTACA-MGB
Babesia spp.	BJ1	GTCTTGTAATTGGAATGATGG	18S rRNA	[24]
Babesia spp.	BN2	TAGTTTATGGTTAGGACTACG	18S rRNA	[24]

(b)
Microorganism	Method	Manufacturer	Antigen	IgG cut-off	IgM cut-off
SFG Rickettsia spp.	Indirect IFA	Focus Diagnostics	Inactivated R. rickettsii	1:64	1:64
A. phagocytophilum	Indirect IFA	Focus Diagnostics	Infected HL60 cells	1:64	1:20
Babesia microti	Indirect IFA	Focus Diagnostics	Infected erythrocytes	1:64	–
Bbsl	Indirect ELISA	Enzygnost (Siemens)	VlsE	^a	–
TBEV	Indirect ELISA	1. Virion/Serion 2. Euroimmun	1. Inactivated TBEV prepared from strain Moscow B-4 2. Inactivated TBEV prepared from strain K23	1^b. 2^c	–

FAM 6-carboxy-fluorescine, BHQ Black Hole Quencher, MGB minor groove binder
^aAccording to manufacturer’s instructions
^bFor Virion/Serion cut-offs are calculated for each batch according to manufacturer’s instructions
^cFor Euroimmun there is a fixed negative cut-off of < 120 VIEU/ml

ISSN: 1471-2334