Pasteurella dagmatis was identified as the etiologic agent of peritonitis in a continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patient by utilizing a molecular kit in our hospital's clinical laboratory. This method would appear a useful approach to identify a species of Pasteurella not included in the existing database of commercial identification kits when discrepancies exist between phenotypic tests.

We examined the effect of anti-triiodothyronine autoantibodies on results of RIA of free triiodothyronine with two commercial kits (Amersham International and Diagnostic Products Corp.). Both methods gave falsely high results because the 125I-labeled analogs used in these RIAs were bound by the autoantibodies.

Inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus samples were used for an external quality assurance study within the World Health Organization SARS Reference and Verification Network and other reference institutions. Of 58 participants, 51 correctly detected virus in all samples > or =9,400 RNA copies per milliliter and none in negative samples. Commercial test kits signifi...

For the first time, Cryptosporidium sp. oocysts were identified in fecal and intestinal samples from free-ranging marine turtles, Chelonia mydas, from the Hawaiian Islands. The oocysts produced positive reactions with commercial test kits recommended for the detection of human-infectious waterborne oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvum.

We describe a Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain, found in Sweden in 2011, that harbours a N. meningitidis porA gene causing false-negative results in PCRs targeting the gonococcal porA pseudogene. Furthermore, the strain had no prolyliminopeptidase (PIP) activity that many commercial biochemical kits for species verification in culture rely on. Enhanced awareness of the spread of such strains and sc...

Antigen detection in the urine and serum may be useful in the diagnosis of suspected meningococcal disease, especially after previous antibiotic treatment. Current test card procedures using commercial agglutination kits are often too insensitive to contribute to diagnosis. Diagnosis of meningococcal disease rose from 37% with the test card procedure to 74% following ultrasonic enhancement.

Mycoplasma contamination is a frequent problem in chlamydial cell culture. After obtaining contradictory contamination results, we compared three commercial PCR kits for mycoplasma detection. One kit signaled contamination in mycoplasma-free Chlamydia pneumoniae cultures. Sequencing of cloned PCR products revealed primer homology with the chlamydial genome as the basis of this false-positive re...

Although commercial kits are available for automated DNA extraction, ‘artisanal’ protocols are not. In this study, we present a silica-based method that is sensitive, inexpensive and compliant with automation. The effectiveness of this protocol has now been tested on more than 5000 animal specimens with highly positive results.

The performances of five commercial TaqMan real-time PCR assays for the detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in respiratory tract specimens were evaluated in comparison with an in-house real-time PCR. All kits allowed prompt and specific results, validated by the use of an internal control. The Nanogen kit showed the best clinical sensitivity.

While establishing a quantification standard for parvovirus B19 diagnostics, we extracted viral DNA from a high-titered human plasma by using three commercial kits. Despite similar viral DNA yields being obtained, striking differences in electrophoretic mobilities of the extracted nucleic acids were observed.