Comparison of conventional and polymerase chain reaction diagnostic techniques for leishmaniasis in the endemic region of Adana, Turkey.

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) has long been reported in the Cukurova region. We have compared the sensitivity of the conventional methods of diagnosis by microscopy and cultivation of lesion aspirates against polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of parasite-specific DNA from these samples.

Methods: The samples (n = 25) were obtained from patients clinically diagnosed with CL at the regional dermatology clinic.

Pemphigus in the Mediterranean region of Turkey: a study of 148 cases.

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical features, course, response to treatment, and prognosis of pemphigus in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.

Methods: All patients with confirmed pemphigus were prospectively enrolled in two major dermatology departments in the cities of Adana and Antalya in the Mediterranean region between March 1998 and March 2004. Details including demography, findings of clinical examinations, treatment, course, and prognosis were recorded.

Oral fluconazole in the treatment of tinea versicolor.

This study was designed to assess the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of oral fluconazole given at 300 mg once weekly for two weeks in the treatment of tinea versicolor. Enrolled into the study were 44 subjects with tinea versicolor, provisionally confirmed by the detection of fungal hyphae in KOH wet mounts and Wood's lamp examination. Four subjects were classified as dropouts because no information was obtained from them after the baseline visit.

Clinical features, epidemiology, and efficacy and safety of intralesional antimony treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis: recent experience in Turkey.

A total of 1,030 patients, 40.2% men and 59.8% women, identified during the period of October 1998 to November 2002 as having cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), were studied; 1,431 lesions were identified in the 1,030 patients.

A sensitive new microculture method for diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

A sensitive microcapillary culture method (MCM) was developed for rapid diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). The MCM is superior to the traditional culture method (TCM) as determined by the smaller inoculum size, the higher sensitivity for detection of promastigotes, and the more rapid time for emergence of promastigotes. With lesion amastigote loads from grade III to 0, the positive rates and the periods for promastigote emergence were 3-4-fold higher and faster with the MCM than with the TCM, e.