The incidence of foodborne infections caused by Shigella spp. is still very high in every year, which poses a great potential threat to public health. Conventional quantification methods based on culture techniques, biochemical, and serological identification are time-consuming and labor-intensive. To develop a more rapid and efficient detection method of Shigella spp., we compared the sensitivity and specificity of three different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods, including conventional PCR, quantitative real-time PCR (RTQ-PCR), and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). Our results indicated that ddPCR method exhibited higher sensitivity, and the limit of detection was 10-5 ng/μl for genomic DNA templates, 10-1 cfu/ml for Shigella bacteria culture. In addition, we found that ddPCR was a time-saving method, which required a shorter pre-culturing time. Collectively, ddPCR assay was a reliable method for rapid and effective detection of Shigella spp.

中文翻译：

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比较常规PCR，RTQ-PCR和液滴数字PCR检测在志贺氏菌检测中的性能。

由志贺氏菌引起的食源性感染的发生率。每年仍然很高，这对公共卫生构成了巨大的潜在威胁。基于培养技术，生化和血清学鉴定的常规定量方法既费时又费力。为了开发一种更快速，高效的志贺氏菌属检测方法，我们比较了三种不同的聚合酶链反应（PCR）方法的灵敏度和特异性，包括常规PCR，定量实时PCR（RTQ-PCR）和液滴数字PCR （ddPCR）。我们的结果表明，ddPCR方法具有更高的灵敏度，基因组DNA模板的检测限为10-5 ng /μl，志贺氏菌培养的检测限为10-1 cfu / ml。此外，我们发现ddPCR是一种省时的方法，这需要较短的预培养时间。总体而言，ddPCR检测是快速有效检测志贺氏菌的可靠方法。