In a prospective study, M4RT medium was compared to the traditional M4 medium to transport cervical swab specimens for Neisseria gonorrhoeae/Chlamydia trachomatis (NG/CT) PCR testing using the Roche COBAS Amplicor. Two cervical swab samples were collected from 270 consecutive patients screened for NG/CT in a satellite facility. The swabs were placed individually in M4RT and M4 medium and were i...

On August 4, 2005, 20 people who participated in the closing ceremonies of a community festival experienced nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. The community where the festival took place was under the jurisdiction of the Aizu Health Center of Fukushima Prefecture. The foods that all of these patients had consumed were rice balls prepared by caterer A. Another 8 people, who did not p...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential use of nasal, oral, and ear swabs for molecular diagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) in an endemic urban area in Brazil. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Sixty-two naturally infected and ten healthy dogs were enrolled in this study. Bone marrow aspirates, peripheral blood, skin biopsy, and conjunctival, nasal, oral, and ...

BACKGROUND Oral candidiasis is an infection caused by a yeast-like fungus called Candida. Various methods can be used to isolate Candida from the oral cavity. However, it is difficult to correctly and satisfactorily diagnose oral candidiasis because currently no microbiological or laboratory standards based on samples from the oral cavity are available. The aim of this study is to establish a r...

Radiography plays a very important role in medical diagnosis but the equipment and accessories used bear a considerable risk of harbouring nosocomial bacteria which may complicate patient’s original condition. The aim of the study was to identify the nosocomial bacteria commonly found on x-ray equipment and accessories in this locality and assess the effectiveness of some common chemical disinf...

Lower nasal swab and higher nasopharyngeal aspirate samples were compared for RSV immunofluorescence and pain score in infants hospitalised with acute bronchiolitis. The nasal swab procedure was significantly less painful but was negative in approximately one third of RSV positive cases.

background and aims: cytomegalovirus (cmv) infection is very common in the population. virus belongs to the family herpesviridae, whose representatives are characterized by the ability to cause the human body's latent persistent infections. the goal of the study is to assess the cmvv infection frequency and pcr method in the choice of cmv in inflammatory eye disease, comparing with cmv pre...

In 70 male patients with urethritis, Chlamydia was recovered from 18 urethral swabs (26%), 5 urinary sediments (7%), and 3 urine specimens (4%). All Chlamydia isolates were recovered from urethral swabs.

We describe a rapid, simple, and reliable procedure for routine isolation of Mycobacterium leprae DNA from slit-skin swab specimens. This one-step DNA extraction method is based on the utilization of ChelexR 100, a chelating ion exchange resin. Slit-skin swab specimens from seven untreated leprosy patients at Baba Baghi Leprosy Hospital in Iran were processed by this procedure. The polymer...