BACKGROUND Nosocomial candidaemia is associated with high mortality rates in critically ill paediatric patients; thus, the early detection and identification of the infectious agent is crucial for successful medical intervention. The PCR-based techniques have significantly increased the detection of Candida species in bloodstream infections. In this study, a multiplex nested PCR approach was de...

Bartonella endocarditis is a severe disease for which blood cultures frequently remain negative. We tested three PCR assays by using specimens of serum sampled early during the disease from 43 patients diagnosed in our laboratory as having Bartonella endocarditis on the basis of serological, culture, and/or valvular molecular detection. We tested a two-step nested PCR (TSN-PCR), a one-step nest...

One hundred and five samples of gastric washes were obtained from 52 pediatric patients. Eleven of the 105 samples (10%) gave positive results using immunofluorescence antibody test (IFA) for Pneumocystis jirovecii. Single-step polymerase chain reaction (PCR) produced 13% (14 samples), whereas detection by nested PCR was increased to 65 samples (62%). Moderate agreement (kappa = 0.5) was found ...

We have modified an existing semi-nested multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by adding one Plasmodium knowlesi-specific nested PCR, and validated the latter against laboratory and clinical samples. This new method has the advantage of being relatively affordable in low resource settings while identifying the five human Plasmodium species with a three-step PCR.

The use of direct nested PCR enables the detection of Plasmodium spp. from blood samples collected on filter papers without requiring the time-consuming procedures associated with DNA extraction. Direct PCR provides a rapid, highly sensitive, and cost-effective alternative to diagnosing malaria using filter paper samples and standard nested PCR.

Single-step and nested polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were used to determine the presence of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the phloem-limited bacterial pathogen of Huanglongbing (HLB), in leaves of wampee [Clausena lansium (Lour.) Skeels], lemon [Citrus limon (L.) Burm.] and several other citrus species. Specific PCR products were obtained when single-step PCR and nested PCR were used to...

We evaluated the use of an integrated cell culture-reverse transcription-PCR (ICC-RT-PCR) procedure coupled with nested PCR to detect human astroviruses, enteroviruses, and adenovirus types 40 and 41 in surface water samples that were collected and evaluated by using the Information Collection Rule (ICR) method. The results obtained with the ICC-RT-PCR-nested PCR method were compared to the res...