Research Progress on Francisella Tularensis Detection

Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia, is known to be one of the most infectious bacterial pathogens. Natural infections of Francisella tularensis have been found in more than 100 species in nature. Due to the various routes of transmission and dissemination and its high virulence, Francisella tularensis is considered as a category A bioterrorism agent by America Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Tularemia is a severe zoonotic disease with high fatality rate, so it is very important to develop a rapid detection method for this organism. Some detection ways for this pathogenic bacterium Francisella tularensis have been reoported, such as cultivation test, microagglutination test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunochromatographic assay, polymerase chain reaction, nucleic acid hybridization, biosensor, mass spectrometry and gene chip. This article presented an overview of the latest research progress on Francisella tularensis detection from the arspects of bacteriological methods, immunology methods, molecular biology methods.