To optimize diagnosis of histoplasmosis in tissue sections, 30 spleen specimens from mice, experimentally infected with Histoplasma capsulatum, were examined by H&E, Grocott stain, anti-bacille Calmette-Guerin antibody immunostain, Fungiqual A fluorochrome stain (Drs Reinehr and Rembold, Kandern, Germany), and a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Results were compared with the tissue...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Bats are recognized as important reservoirs for emerging infectious disease and some unknown viral diseases. Two novel viruses, Malsoor virus (family Bunyaviridae, genus, Phlebovirus) and a novel adenovirus (AdV) (family, Adenoviridae genus, Mastadenovirus), were identified from Rousettus bats in the Maharashtra State of India. This study was done to develop and optimize...

The DNA of Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes extracted by ammonium hydroxide was used as the template for nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the species-specific 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA). The primers were those well known to be specific for signature sequence amplification of the B burgdorferi sensu lato 16S ribosomal RNA gene. The positive 293-base-pair nested PCR amplicon ...

A control template for a competitive nested primer PCR of the HIV-1 gag region was constructed. This construct shares the primer recognition sequences with the wildtype template and yields a 97-bp fragment after amplification (wild-type: 115 bp). To provide an internal control for the individual PCR runs, six copies of this nested primer control plasmid were introduced into a reaction tube cont...

Pear decline is a very important phytoplasma disease that causes considerable quantitative and qualitative losses to this fruit crop. Due to economical importance of pear in Isfahan province, Iran, and the difficulty to determine the occurrence of the disease simply based on symptoms in orchards, a detection method for the phytoplasma causing disease in pears in the region was developed. Since ...

BACKGROUND/AIM Malaria is a major public health problem, especially in the Southeast Asia region, caused by 5 species of Plasmodium (P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale, and P. knowlesi). The aim of this study was to compare parasite species identification methods using the new multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) against nested PCR and microscopy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Blood ...

27 Diagnosis of Post Kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL), particularly the macular form is 28 difficult by microscopy. This study compared the positivity of nested polymerase chain reaction 29 (91.9%) with imprint smear microscopy (70.9%) in 62 PKDL samples. Nested PCR, showing 87.5% 30 positivity in macular lesions compared to 41.6% by imprint smear microscopy, is an efficient method 31 for ...

AIMS In this study, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay has been developed and evaluated for the rapid and sensitive detection of Verticillium dahliae Kleb., the causal agent of vascular wilts in many economically important crops. METHODS AND RESULTS LAMP primers were designed based on a previously described RAPD marker, and the LAMP assay was applied for direct detection of...

We tested the frequency of occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) among Egyptian healthcare workers (HCWs). We tested 132 HCWs for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) by ELISA. HCV RNA was measured by nested PCR in anti-HCV-positive HCWs. HBV-DNA-positive HCWs were subjected to HBV genotyping. We included 132 HCWs who were...