Avian tuberculosis (ATBC) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in birds in zoos and breeding establishments. The primary sources of Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium (MAA) of serotypes 1, 2 and 3 are infected animals (esp. birds), who shed MAA in different ways and thus contaminate the environment. The first aim of this work was to compare the efficiency of the diagnostic methods th...

Serological techniques commonly used to quantify influenza-specific antibodies include the Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI), Single Radial Haemolysis (SRH) and Virus Neutralization (VN) assays. HI and SRH are established and reproducible techniques, whereas VN is more demanding. Every new influenza vaccine needs to fulfil the strict criteria issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in ord...

BACKGROUND The assertion of a causal relationship between celiac disease and infertility is suggested by several lines of research. Nevertheless, robust evidence has not yet been provided. The present study evaluated, for the first time, the prevalence of celiac disease in women undergoing assisted reproduction techniques (ART). METHODS Serum samples from 200 Italian women undergoing ART were...

BACKGROUND Some syphilis patients remain in a serologically active state after the recommended therapy. We currently know too little about the characteristics of this serological response. METHODS We conducted a cohort study using the clinical database from Zhongshan Hospital, Medical College of Xiamen. In total, 1,327 HIV-negative patients with primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary syphil...

Of 110 subjects with clinical evidence of amebiasis, 15 (14%) were shown to be infected with Entamoeba histolytica. Microscopic examination of stool specimens rendered a diagnosis in all eight cases of localized intestinal infection, but in only one of seven patients with invasive amebiasis. Culture was concomitantly diagnostic in six patients intestinal amebiasis and in one patient with extrai...

The aim of this study was the application of fluorescence polarisation assay (FPA) for the examination of bovine sera and comparison of the results of the assay with the results of Rose Bengal test (RBT), serum agglutination test (SAT), complement fixation test (CFT), and ELISA. Six hundred thirty-five sera from cattle, including 300 sera from healthy animals, 32 sera from animals regarded as s...

Orally transmitted Chagas disease (ChD), which is a well-known entity in the Brazilian Amazon Region, was first documented in Venezuela in December 2007, when 103 people attending an urban public school in Caracas became infected by ingesting juice that was contaminated with Trypanosoma cruzi. The infection occurred 45-50 days prior to the initiation of the sampling performed in the current stu...

Diagnosis and detection are key aspects related to plant health status. A critical review of the available diagnostic methods utilised for Agrobacterium rhizogenes and A. tumefaciens, Pseudomonas amygdali, P. syringae pv. mors-prunorum, P. syringae pv. persicae, P. syringae pv. syringae and Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni, the main pathogens of the stone fruit trees, is presented. As there is ...