From January 2011 to December 2013, a total of 262 samples, from 188 patients suspected of having syphilis were tested for the presence of treponemal DNA by PCR amplification of five chromosomal loci, including the polA (TP0105), tmpC (TP0319), TP0136, TP0548, and 23S rRNA genes. Altogether, 146 samples from 103 patients were PCR positive for treponemal DNA. A set of 81 samples from 62 PCR-positive patients were typeable, and among them, nine different genotypes were identified. Compared to a previous study in the Czech Republic during 2004 to 2010, the number of genotypes detected among syphilis patients in a particular year increased to six in both 2012 and 2013, although they were not the same six. The proportion of macrolide-resistant clinical isolates in this 3-year study was 66.7%.

Department of Biology Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Department of Dermatology 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Prague Czech Republic

Department of Dermatovenereology 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Bulovka Hospital Prague Czech Republic

Department of Dermatovenereology St Anne's Faculty Hospital Brno Brno Czech Republic

Department of Medical Microbiology Faculty of Medicine St Anne's Hospital and Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics of the General University Hospital and of the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University Prague Prague Czech Republic

Outpatient STI Clinic Medicentrum Prague Czech Republic

The National Reference Laboratory for Diagnostics of the Syphilis National Institute for Public Health Prague Czech Republic

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Sex Transm Dis. 2015 Jan;42(1):53. doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000000220. PubMed

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