AIM This cross-sectional study aims to assess the prevalence of Cryptosporidium in hemodialysis patients compared with healthy individuals in central Iran from August 2014 to January 2015. BACKGROUND Cryptosporidiosis is a major cause of acute and persistent diarrhea with significant morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients such as those undergoing renal dialysis. METHODS Three...

Background: Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) method proves to be a good modality of microscopic detection of Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) in Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) smears of lymph nodes though has a low sensitivity. It has a potential to become an even more valuable tool if its sensitivity could be increased. Objective: To improve microscopic detection of AFB in FNA cytology of lymph nodes using modified bl...

INTRODUCTION The present study aimed to establish the frequency and clinical characteristics of cutaneous tuberculosis among Mexican adult patients. METHODOLOGY Ninety-five patients with clinically compatible lesions to cutaneous tuberculosis participated in the study. All patients were HIV negative and none of them had previous anti-TB treatment. A skin biopsy was taken from every patient su...

BACKGROUND To report a rare presentation of culture-positive Mycobacterium chelonae corneal ulcer and its management. FINDINGS We report a rare case of a patient with a history of chronic pain and blurriness of vision. Examination revealed a chronic nonhealing paracentral corneal ulcer inferiorly at the 5-7 o'clock meridian with anterior chamber reaction unresponsive to routine antibiotic and...

Paratuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium avium subs. paratuberculosis a chronic, inflammatory and fatal disease of ruminants. The infection is characterized by chronic “subclinic” phase. Cattle in this phase is capable of infecting other animals in the herd. Although the presence of paratuberculosis has been known, the scientific studies on the disease and the prevalence appears to be scarced i...

Light-emitting diode fluorescence microscopy (LED-FM) is recommended by the World Health Organization to replace conventional Ziehl-Neelsen microscopy for pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis. Uptake of LED-FM has been slow. One reason is its reported loss of specificity compared with Ziehl-Neelsen microscopy. We aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of LED-FM for tuberculosis detection and ex...

OBJECTIVE To compare four laboratory methods in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. METHODS Respiratory secretion specimens were collected from 160 patients suspected of having pulmonary tuberculosis. Direct testing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis was carried out using Ziehl-Neelsen and auramine staining. In addition, culture in Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium and polymerase chain reaction ...