Nested PCR Assay for Eight Pathogens: A Rapid Tool for Diagnosis of Bacterial Meningitis.

Purpose: Bacterial meningitis is a dreadful infectious disease with a high mortality and morbidity if remained undiagnosed. Traditional diagnostic methods for bacterial meningitis pose a challenge in accurate identification of pathogen, making prognosis difficult. The present study is therefore aimed to design and evaluate a specific and sensitive nested 16S rDNA genus-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using clinical cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for rapid diagnosis of eight pathogens causing the disease.

Diagnosis of tuberculosis in an Indian population by an indirect ELISA protocol based on detection of Antigen 85 complex: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) remains problematic despite many new advanced diagnostic methods. A reliable and rapid diagnostic test, which could be performed in any standard pathology laboratory, would help to obtain definitive early diagnoses of TB. In the present study we describe a prospective evaluation for demonstrating Antigen (Ag) 85 complex in the sera from TB patients.