An oligonucleotide microarray to detect pathogens causing a sexually transmitted disease

Abstract

A sexually transmitted disease (STD) is a common infection caused by various pathogens. Many other bacteria and viruses are associated with STDs. Infection of bacterial STD agents is sometimes not accompanied by symptoms. If an infected person who has no symptoms is not tested, infection control of an STD agent will fail and the infection may then be transmitted to a new person through sexual contact. Therefore, development of proper detection methods is important in control of STDs. In this study, we developed a microarray to detect infection of bacterial STD agents. We designed specific primers and probes for each STD pathogen and then hybridized with specific target amplified DNA. In conclusion, a DNA microarray-based detection method is ideal for detection of STDs because it offers simultaneous multi-targeting as well as fast and high-throughput detection.