OBJECTIVE To determine if Mycobacterium tuberculosis can be detected in corneas of donors who have active tuberculosis (TB) disease using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or culture. DESIGN This is a prospective cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS 25 corneas (12 from TB-negative donors and 13 from TB-positive donors) from the Sta. Lucia International Eye Bank were submitted to the TB Researc...

A multiplex polymerase chain reaction (M-PCR) assay that simultaneously detects the three major causes of genital ulcer disease (GUD), Haemophilus ducreyi, Treponema pallidum, and herpes simplex virus, was used to evaluate swab specimens for 38 sequential patients with GUD at a Thai sexually transmitted disease clinic. Subjects received clinical diagnoses and syndromic treatment. Swab specimens...

Since traditional diagnosis of dermatophyte infections is slow, we present a rapid new PCR test for detection of Trichophyton spp., Microsporum canis and M. audouinii infections. The performance of the test was evaluated with: 58 dermatophyte isolates; 10 yeast, mould and human DNA control samples; 25 routine specimens from patients suspected of having dermatophytosis; 10 hair specimens from gu...

BACKGROUND Implementation of Multi drug Therapy (MDT) regimen has resulted in the decline of the total number of leprosy cases in the world. Though the prevalence rate has been declining, the incidence rate remains more or less constant and high in South East Asian countries particularly in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Srilanka. Leprosy, particularly that of multibacillary type spread...

Differentiation between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. avium is helpful for the treatment of disseminated mycobacterial infection in AIDS patients. This can traditionally be done by time-consuming biochemical tests or with Accuprobe. Previously, PCR restriction enzyme analysis (PCR-REA) of the 16S-23S rRNA gene spacer was shown to be able to identify a limited number of strains of Mycobacter...

Background: The presence of granuloma, visualized in histopathology for diagnosing tuberculosis in tissue samples, is not a specific finding. Moreover, histopathological examination of tissue sections needs one to two weeks for final reporting. A rapid and sensitive method is therefore needed for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in these paucibacillary tissue samples. Methodology: A PCR-...

The diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) remains a complex issue because the most widely used conventional diagnostic tools, such as culture and PCR assay for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples, are unable to rapidly detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis with sufficient sensitivity in the acute phase of TBM. Based on TaqMan PCR, we designed a novel technique consisting of an internally controll...

mycoplasma agalactiae (m. agalactiae) is one of the main causes of contagious agalactia, an infectious syndrome of sheep and goats in khuzestan province –southwest of iran that is characterized by mastitis and subsequent failure of milk production, arthritis, abortion and keratoconjunctivitis. this study was carried out to isolation and identification of m. agalactiae with culture and polymeras...