BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes) is an important cause of pharyngitis. Rapid detection of this microorganism in throat specimens is essential to promptly start antibiotic therapy which could be lead to prevent complications and stop transmission of infection to other individuals. In the present study, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was compared with cultu...

Environmental surfaces near infected and/or colonised patients in hospitals are commonly contaminated with potentially pathogenic micro-organisms. At present, however, there is no standardised method for taking samples from surfaces in order to perform quantitative cultures. Usually contact plates or swabs are used, but these methods may give different results. The recovery rate of traditional ...

BACKGROUND The need to develop valid methods for sampling and analyzing fecal specimens for microbiome studies is increasingly important, especially for large population studies. METHODS Some of the most important attributes of any sampling method are reproducibility, stability, and accuracy. We compared seven fecal sampling methods [no additive, RNAlater, 70% ethanol, EDTA, dry swab, and pre...

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to evaluate sampling methods for recovery of mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli (LB) in children 9 to 36 months of age. METHODS Tongue and plaque specimens collected on cotton swabs and stimulated saliva were diluted and plated on selective and nonselective media. Tongue specimens on a swab and mouth mirror were inoculated directly on selective a...

We compared fecal samples with samples collected with rectoanal mucosa swabs (RAMS) to determine the prevalence of Escherichia coli O157 in feedlot cattle (n = 747). Escherichia coli O157 was detected in 9.5% of samples collected with RAMS and 4.7% of samples tested by fecal culture. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of isolates suggested that the strains colonizing the rectoanal juncti...

oil on 15 clinical strains of Candida spp., isolated from humans and dogs and to determine if there is a difference in susceptibility between human and dog isolates. Sampling in patients with stomatitis was done by swabbing the denture or oral mucosa swab while sampling in dogs was done by swabbing the oral cavity mucosa after stomatitis has been diagnosed. In order to investigate the antifunga...