abstract life-threatening infections caused by the encapsulated fungal pathogen cryptococcus neoformans have been increasing steadily over the past 10 years. cryptococcus neoformans is recognized as the most frequent fungal infection of the central nervous system (cns) in immunocompetent as well as immunocompromised patients. we report the development of a semi-nested- pcr-based assay for the d...

background and purpose: fungal keratitis is a suppurative, ulcerative, and sight-threatening infection of the cornea that sometimes leads to blindness. the aims of this study were: recuperating facilities for laboratory diagnosis, determining the causative microorganisms, and comparing conventional laboratory diagnostic tools and semi-nested pcr. materials and methods: sampling was conducted in...

outbreaks causing mass mortalities have been observed in the golden grey mullet (liza auratus) population in southern coastal area of the caspian sea since 2002. the clinical signs include neurological abnormalities, such as erratic swimming behavior, spiral swimming, belly-up at rest and over inflation of the swim bladder. three hundred and twelve samples of moribund fish with sizes that range...

background and purpose: pneumocystis pneumonia, caused by pneumocystis jirovecii, is a fatal disease threatening patients with aids or immunosuppression. assessment of colonization in these patients is of great significance, since it can lead to severe pulmonary disorders. considering the scarcity of published reports on pneumocystis jirovecii isolates from patients in mashhad, iran, we aimed t...

background: hepatitis c is a disease with significant global impact. the distribution of hepatitis c virus (hcv) genotypes in mashhad (the northeast and the biggest city after the capital of iran) is unknown. the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hcv genotypes among hcv seropositive patients, and to study the relationship between types, virologic and demographic features ...

objective: hepatitis c virus is the major cause of viral hepatitis and its diagnosis in suspected specimens is of great importance. the risk of transfusion- transmitted virus infection is primarily the result of failure in serological screening tests to detect recently infected donors in the pre-seroconversion window period of infection. therefore, sensitive and accurate diagnosis of hcv prior ...