Abstract
Secondary syphilis (SS) has always been puzzling for the clinicians because of the similarity of the appearance of skin rashes with other dermatoses. Serological assays are useful, but less sensitive at an early stage of SS or when patients are immunodeficient. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a rapid and effective tool for the diagnosis of SS, which may play an important role in the control of epidemic syphilis outbreaks. In this study, we evaluated a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, targeting gene encoding the basic membrane protein of Treponema pallidum, to detect the presence of circulating T. pallidum DNA in the blood of SS patients. The specificity of LAMP was validated using three strains of Spirochaetales and six common clinical bacteria. The clinical applicability of LAMP assay was assessed using 642 blood samples from clinically suspected SS patients and 80 samples from healthy blood donors, showing a sensitivity of 82.1% and a specificity of 100.0% in the diagnosis of SS. Thus, our results indicate that the LAMP can be used as a supplementary method for the diagnosis of SS.