A rapid and sensitive assay was developed for the detection of low numbers of viable Vibrio cholerae and Shigella spp. cells in environmental and drinking water samples. Water samples were filtered, and the filters were enriched in a non-selective medium. The enrichment cultures were prepared for polymerase chain reactions (PCR) by a rapid and simple DNA extraction procedure consisting of boili...

BACKGROUND To determine the presence of Helicobacter species in the liver biopsy specimens from children with various chronic liver diseases as data in adult literature suggests a possible role of these bacteria in their pathogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Paraffin sections of 61 liver biopsies of pediatric patients with miscellaneous diseases and autopsy liver tissue from 10 control subjects...

Canine babesiosis has recently been recognized as an emerging infectious disease of dogs in North America. We sought to develop a seminested PCR to detect and differentiate Babesia gibsoni (Asian genotype), B. canis subsp. vogeli, B. canis subsp. canis, and B. canis subsp. rossi DNA in canine blood samples. An outer primer pair was designed to amplify an approximately 340-bp fragment of the 18S...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important childhood pathogen of acute lower respiratory infections in developed and developing countries. The molecular epidemiology of RSV in India is largely unknown. The present study was undertaken to standardize and evaluate reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for the rapid and simultaneous detection of RSV groups A and B in clinical samples and to st...

A recent outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Singapore in 2000 affected several thousand children and resulted in four deaths. The aim of this study was to determine the applicability of reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) with universal pan-enterovirus primers and enterovirus 71 (EV71) type-specific primers for the direct detection of enteroviruses in clinical specimens derived from th...

BACKGROUND Invasive fungal infections are often diagnosed by histopathology without identification of the causative fungi, which show significantly different antifungal susceptibilities. AIMS To establish and evaluate a system of two seminested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to identify and discriminate between agents of aspergillosis and mucormycosis in paraffin wax embedded tissue s...

Norovirus (NoV) is one of the most important aetiological agents of acute gastroenteritis both in developed and developing countries. NoV is shed in high concentrations by infected persons and contaminates recreational and drinking water through sewage discharge into the environment. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, genotypes and removal ratio of NoV by PCR, seminested-PCR...