Genotyping Plasmodium vivax isolates from the 2011 outbreak in Greece.

Background: Plasmodium vivax malaria was common in Greece until the 1950s with epidemics involving thousands of cases every year. Greece was declared free of malaria by the World Health Organization in 1974. From 1974 to 2010, an average of 39 cases per year were reported, which were mainly imported.

Blastocystosis: an emerging or re-emerging potential zoonosis?

Blastocystis sp. is an intestinal protozoa that was formerly recognised as a yeast. However, it has since been classified in the Stramenopile Kingdom.

Direct detection of Blastocystis sp. in human faecal samples and subtype assignment using single strand conformational polymorphism and sequencing.

Blastocystis is an anaerobic parasitic microorganism, which has been found in the intestinal tract of many vertebrates including humans. Recently, members of Blastocystis sp. were classified into nine subtypes, based on phylogenetic trees derived from sequence analysis of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene.

Detection and species identification of Old World Leishmania in clinical samples using a PCR-based method.

The aim of this study was to develop a simple, low-cost method for the detection and species differentiation of Leishmania directly from clinical samples, for routine use in a parasitology laboratory. A total of 87 samples was used, including 60 peripheral blood, seven bone marrow and 17 skin lesion material samples, derived from Greek patients with visceral or cutaneous leishmaniasis, and three reference strains. PCR was performed using primers designed to amplify the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region of the rRNA gene.