Early appropriate treatment of bacteremia is important in minimizing morbidity and mortality. Standard blood culture methods are not optimal since several days are often required for recovery and identification of organisms which may be present in the blood. The use of a membrane filter technique allows one to grow any organisms present in blood much more rapidly than by broth or pour plate cul...

A previously healthy man is hospitalized for a two-month illness characterized by productive cough, dyspnea, and weight loss. Empiric antibiotic therapy for community-acquired pneumonia failed to affect the symptoms. Six weeks later, the patient was hospitalized again, now with respiratory distress. Chest radiogram showed diffuse patchy nodular infiltrates. Antibiotics were modified but the pat...

Malaria's global impact is expansive and includes the extremes of the healthcare system ranging from international travelers returning to nonendemic regions with tertiary referral medical care to residents in hyperendemic regions without access to medical care. Implementation of prompt and accurate diagnosis is needed to curb the expanding global impact of malaria associated with ever-increasin...

Fast and appropriate therapy is the cornerstone in the therapy of sepsis. However, the discrimination of sepsis from non-infectious causes of inflammation may be difficult. Biomarkers have been suggested to aid physicians in this decision. There is currently no biochemical technique available which alone allows a rapid and reliable discrimination between sepsis and non-infectious inflammation. ...

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) are a major complication in immunocompromized patients where can be serious and rapidly fatal. Early diagnosis and early appropriate antifungal treatment is important in reducing mortality and morbidity. But despite many efforts to develop detection methods, the diagnosis of IA still remains challenging and current conventional methods are limited for adequate diagno...

invasive aspergillosis (ia) are a major complication in immunocompromized patients where can be serious and rapidly fatal. early diagnosis and early appropriate antifungal treatment is important in reducing mortality and morbidity. but despite many efforts to develop detection methods, the diagnosis of ia still remains challenging and current conventional methods are limited for adequate diagno...