Molecular detection of Histoplasma capsulatum indoors: A public health approach.

Background: Histoplasmosis, caused by the dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, represents an important public health problem, especially in urban environments where bats and humans cohabit indoors.

Aims: To detect the presence of H. capsulatum indoors, using samples of bat droppings collected in roost sites inside houses.

Feline sporotrichosis due to Sporothrix brasiliensis: an emerging animal infection in São Paulo, Brazil.

Background: Sporotrichosis is a mycotic infectious disease that is generally acquired by traumatic inoculation of contaminated materials especially from plant debris or through bites and scratches from diseased animals, such as domestic cats. It affects the skin, lymphatic system, and other organs in the warm-blooded host. Etiological agents are embedded in the plant-associated order Ophiostomatales.

Serodiagnosis of sporotrichosis infection in cats by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using a specific antigen, SsCBF, and crude exoantigens.

The main objective of this study is to standardize an ELISA for the diagnosis of feline sporotrichosis. Sporothrix schenckii is the etiological agent of human and animal sporotrichosis. Cats may act as reservoirs for S.

Serologic survey for rickettsiosis in bats from São Paulo city, Brazil.

Blood serum samples were collected from 451 bats captured within the São Paulo city from April 2007 to November 2008, and individually tested by indirect immunofluorescence assay against antigens derived from five Rickettsia species reported to occur in Brazil: the spotted fever group (SFG) species R. rickettsii, R. parkeri, R.