Eight hundred and twenty-three examinations were carried out on 662 homosexual patients. At each examination a blind anorectal swab and a rectal swab taken via a proctoscope were inoculated on to a culture plate. From a total of 100 gonococcal infections of the rectum 96 gave positive results from blind anorectal swabs and 99 from swabs taken via a proctoscope. Blind anorectal swabs proved to b...

Given the widespread concern but general lack of information over possibility SARS-CoV-2 infection in public transport, key issues such as passenger personal hygiene, efficient air circulation systems, and effective disinfection frequently touched surfaces need to be evaluated educate diminish risk viral transmission we learn live with ongoing pandemic. In this context report on a study involvi...

INTRODUCTION Diagnosis of HSV-1 keratitis (HK) is frequently based on clinical findings. Invasive specimens (corneal scrapings, biopsies) are required for microbiological diagnosis. METHODS Corneal scrapings and conjunctival swabs were collected on patients with/without clinical suspicion of HK from 2007 to 2012. RESULTS The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values ...

59 serum samples, 19 nasal swabs, 48 throat swabs, 44 rectal swabs, 2 urine samples, 2 postmortem brain needle biopsy material by nasal route, and 1 postmortem liver biopsy specimen. All clinical samples were negative for known virus causing acute encephalitis like JE, Nipah, West Nile and chandipura virus. Some specimens were processed for the discovery of novel agents. However, no agent has b...

Clinical swab heads are often coated with biopolymers to improve the recovery and survival of organisms. To assess the effect of swab head material coating, water absorption capacity and capture and release characteristics of four pathogenic bacteria from protein coated and uncoated flocked swabs were determined. Demonstration of no uniformly higher recovery of all test bacteria from coated swa...

We analyzed the cycle threshold (C(T)) of PCR surveillance MRSA swabs obtained from veterans. Lower C(T) on admission was associated with a positive culture from nasal swabs at discharge. Compared to PCR, direct plating of nasal swabs performed poorly, especially for patients with an elevated C(T). The C(T) is strongly correlated with quantitative nasal cultures. Clinical and infection control ...

Four varieties of swabs held in plastic containers and three swab transport media kits, all obtainable in the United Kingdom, were tested to assess their effectiveness in the isolation of Bordetella pertussis. The highest isolation rates up to 48 hours were obtained with Dacron swabs held in plastic containers. Swab-transport media kits proved unsatisfactory. B pertussis may have a stronger aff...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Otitis media is endemic in remote Indigenous communities of Australia's Northern Territory. Alloiococcus otitidis is an outer ear commensal and putative middle ear pathogen that has not previously been described in acute otitis media (AOM) in this population. The aims of this study were to determine the presence, antibiotic susceptibility and bacterial load of A. otitid...