Systemic candidiasis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with hematologic disorders. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of systemic candidiasis and the efficiency of the polymerase chain reaction-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (PCR-ELIZA) method for the early detection of Candida spp. in patients with hematologic malignancies. From 2004 to 2006, 1...

INTRODUCTION Early diagnosis of dengue is important for appropriate clinical management and vector control. Different serological tests based on the principle of immunochromatography and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are commonly used for detection of antigen and antibodies of dengue virus. The performance of these tests depends on the sensitivity and specificity. Hence, the study w...

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is endemic in numerous Brazilian regions. The greatest difficulty in controlling the disease is the diagnostic limitation. In the present study, the most common tests employed for visceral leishmaniasis diagnosis were compared: immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT), immunoenzymatic assay (ELISA), direct parasitological examination and polymerase chain react...

The definitive diagnosis ability of IgM ELISA, nested RT-PCR and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was evaluated for Chikungunya diagnosis using 180 clinical samples. Real-time qPCR showed a higher sensitivity (88.3%) for Chikungunya diagnosis in the early stages of infection, while IgM ELISA proved sensitive for the late stages of illness (81.8%). The results suggest that the application of bo...

A microplate ELISA hybridization assay has been developed for the detection of the IS6110 PCR products of M. tuberculosis from sputum specimens. In this study, its efficacy was evaluated by comparison with agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) and dot blot hybridization (DBH), with culture results as the 'gold standard'. The assay was used with 190 sputum samples: the PCR results detected by ELISA ...

OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were 1) to evaluate testing regimens of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-exposed infants and 2) to determine optimal methods of follow-up by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing. METHODS We reviewed the results from 742 HIV-exposed infants in the state of North Carolina; 2474 samples were tested for HIV by DNA polymerase chain reaction (P...

PURPOSE Helicobacter pylori is one of the most prevalent infectious agents in the world which causes a variety of gastrointestinal diseases including gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric carcinoma. The objective of this study was to comparatively evaluate invasive (rapid urease test and polymerase chain reaction) and non-invasive (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) tests in diagnosis of infectio...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a major risk factor for adenocarcinoma of the cervix. The high-risk types of the virus such as HPV16 and HPV18, which possess the E6 and E7 oncogenes, are responsible for approximately 50% of all cervical cancers. A rapid, sensitive and specific test has been proposed for detection of HPV to improve cervical cancer screening prog...

Several studies have suggested that the PCR could be used in epidemiological mass-screening surveys to detect Leishmania (Viannia) spp. infection in human and animal hosts. Dogs from an area of Leishmania braziliensis and Leishmania peruviana endemicity were screened for American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) infection by established PCR-based and enzyme-linked immunosorbent antibody test (ELIS...