INTRODUCTION: Paraguay was among the 16 countries that reported zero indigenous malaria cases in 2014. METHODS: A cross-sectional observational descriptive study was performed in 100 adults from Santa Teresa, Paraguay. Parasite detection was carried out using seminested multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and microscopy. RESULTS Among the participants, 44% were female and 56% were mal...

Rearrangement of T cell receptor (TCR) V8-J8 genes has been analyzed in 20 myasthenia gravis (MG) cases and 17 controls (blood donors) using the seminested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Unlike the healthy subjects the majority of patients demonstrated a monoor oligoclonal type of rearrangement of TCR V51-6-J51 genes. It is suggested that T lymphocytes may undergo clonal expansion in myasthen...

Enteroviruses have been reported in encephalitis cases. However, clinical and epidemiological characteristics of enteroviruses in encephalitis are not fully established. We prospectively investigated 204 children with encephalitis over a period of 2 years (2009 to 2010) for enterovirus. Enterovirus was detected in 45 specimens (22.1%); of these, 40 were typed by seminested reverse transcription...

We have developed a set of reverse transcription-PCR assays for the detection and identification of known and novel paramyxoviruses in clinical specimens. Primers were designed from the conserved motifs of the polymerase pol gene sequences to detect members of the Paramyxovirinae or Pneumovirinae subfamily or groups of genera within the Paramyxovirinae subfamily. The consensus-degenerate hybrid...

A combined PCR assay was developed for the detection and typing of human polyomavirus (huPoV) in clinical samples, consisting of (i) a qualitative seminested PCR assay (snPCR) to discriminate between huPoV BK and JC and (ii) a high-throughput, quantitative TaqMan PCR assay (TM-PCR) for the general detection of huPoV. The TM-PCR detects huPoV DNA in a linear range from 10(7) to 10(1) copies per ...

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...