Chlamydophila felis and feline herpesvirus (FHV) are pathogens commonly associated with feline respiratory and ocular disease. A real-time multiplex PCR assay was developed to allow detection of these organisms, together with feline 28S ribosomal DNA, in a single tube. Of 538 ocular swab samples tested, 123 were positive for FHV, 97 were positive for C. felis, and 16 were positive for both path...

There are few studies on rhinitis and sick building syndrome (SBS) among students in tropical countries. We studied associations between levels of five fungal DNA sequences, two mycotoxins (sterigmatocystin and verrucarol) and cat allergen (Fel d 1) levels in schools and rhinitis and other weekly SBS symptoms in the students. Fungal DNA was measured by quantitative PCR and cat allergen by ELISA...

Background: The diagnosis of toxocariasis heavily depends on immunological tests because the number of parasites is usually few in infected tissues, unless they migrate into an organ such as eye. In general, patients with ocular toxocariasis have serum anti- T canis antibody titres that are significantly lower than those with visceral toxocariasis. Objective: To diagnose the asymptomatic toxoca...

BACKGROUND Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness. Routes of transmission remain unclear. In this study, the relationship between Chlamydia trachomatis Amplicor-positive nasal discharge and Amplicor-positive ocular swabs was investigated (Amplicor; Roche, Indianapolis, IN). METHODS A longitudinal study was conducted in Tanzania and The Gambia. Eyes were graded for active tracho...

purpose: the main purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (hsv-1 and hsv-2), varicella-zoster virus and adenovirus associated with conjunctivitis in swab samples of patients who referred to eye specialist hospitals in tehran. methods: in this cross-sectional study, swab samples from patients with acute conjunctivitis during the first sixth months of ...

Forty patients with cataracts, as well as 40 patients with proven ocular toxoplasmosis were enrolled in this prospective clinical study. Serum IgG and aqueous IgG in both groups were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the corresponding ratios were calculated. Serum IgG/aqueous humor IgG ratio was less than 100 in the patient group and more than 100 in the control gro...

tears have antimicrobial, nourishing, mechanical, and optical properties and contain components such as growth factors, fibronectin and vitamins to support proliferation, migration and differentiation of corneal and conjunctival epithelial cells. lack of these epitheliotrophic factors, as in dry eye, can result in severe ocular surface disorders such as persistent epithelial defects. recently, ...

Purpose To characterize the ocular surface microbiome of healthy volunteers using a combination of microbial culture and high-throughput DNA sequencing techniques. Methods Conjunctival swab samples from 107 healthy volunteers were analyzed by bacterial culture, 16S rDNA gene deep sequencing (n = 89), and biome representational in silico karyotyping (BRiSK; n = 80). Swab samples of the facial ...