Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections

Direct microscopy is widely used for the diagnosis of parasitic infections although it often requires an experienced microscopist for accurate diagnosis, is labour intensive and not very sensitive. In order to overcome some of these shortcomings, molecular or nucleic acid-based diagnostic methods fo...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Balbir, Singh
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier Ltd. 1997
Subjects:	R Medicine (General)
Online Access:	http://ir.unimas.my/15855/ http://ir.unimas.my/15855/ http://ir.unimas.my/15855/ http://ir.unimas.my/15855/1/Molecular%20methods%20for%20diagnosis%20and%20epidemiological%20%28abstract%29.pdf

id	unimas-15855
recordtype	eprints
spelling	unimas-158552017-04-07T02:20:12Z http://ir.unimas.my/15855/ Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections Balbir, Singh R Medicine (General) Direct microscopy is widely used for the diagnosis of parasitic infections although it often requires an experienced microscopist for accurate diagnosis, is labour intensive and not very sensitive. In order to overcome some of these shortcomings, molecular or nucleic acid-based diagnostic methods for parasitic infections have been developed over the past 12 years. The parasites which have been studied with these techniques include the human Plasmodia, Leishmania, the trypanosomes, Toxoplasma gondii, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia, Trichomonas vaginalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Taenia, Echinococcus, Brugia malayi, Wuchereria bancrofti, Loa loa and Onchocerca volvulus. Early methods, which involved hybridisation of specific probes (radiolabelled and non-radiolabelled) to target deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), have been replaced by more sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays. Other methods, such as PCR-hybridisation assays, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assays and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis have also proved valuable for epidemiological studies of parasites. The general principles and development of DNA-based methods for diagnosis and epidemiological studies will be described, with particular reference to malaria. These methods will probably not replace current methods for routine diagnosis of parasitic infections in developing countries where parasitic diseases are endemic, due to high costs. However, they will be extremely useful for genotyping parasite strains and vectors, and for accurate parasite detection in both humans and vectors during epidemiological studies. Elsevier Ltd. 1997 Article PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/15855/1/Molecular%20methods%20for%20diagnosis%20and%20epidemiological%20%28abstract%29.pdf Balbir, Singh (1997) Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections. International Journal for Parasitology, 27 (10). pp. 1135-1145. ISSN 0020-7519 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751997001112 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0020-7519(97)00111-2
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building	UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	R Medicine (General)
spellingShingle	R Medicine (General) Balbir, Singh Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections
description	Direct microscopy is widely used for the diagnosis of parasitic infections although it often requires an experienced microscopist for accurate diagnosis, is labour intensive and not very sensitive. In order to overcome some of these shortcomings, molecular or nucleic acid-based diagnostic methods for parasitic infections have been developed over the past 12 years. The parasites which have been studied with these techniques include the human Plasmodia, Leishmania, the trypanosomes, Toxoplasma gondii, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia, Trichomonas vaginalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Taenia, Echinococcus, Brugia malayi, Wuchereria bancrofti, Loa loa and Onchocerca volvulus. Early methods, which involved hybridisation of specific probes (radiolabelled and non-radiolabelled) to target deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), have been replaced by more sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays. Other methods, such as PCR-hybridisation assays, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assays and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis have also proved valuable for epidemiological studies of parasites. The general principles and development of DNA-based methods for diagnosis and epidemiological studies will be described, with particular reference to malaria. These methods will probably not replace current methods for routine diagnosis of parasitic infections in developing countries where parasitic diseases are endemic, due to high costs. However, they will be extremely useful for genotyping parasite strains and vectors, and for accurate parasite detection in both humans and vectors during epidemiological studies.
format	Article
author	Balbir, Singh
author_facet	Balbir, Singh
author_sort	Balbir, Singh
title	Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections
title_short	Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections
title_full	Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections
title_fullStr	Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections
title_full_unstemmed	Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections
title_sort	molecular methods for diagnosis and epidemiological studies of parasitic infections
publisher	Elsevier Ltd.
publishDate	1997
url	http://ir.unimas.my/15855/ http://ir.unimas.my/15855/ http://ir.unimas.my/15855/ http://ir.unimas.my/15855/1/Molecular%20methods%20for%20diagnosis%20and%20epidemiological%20%28abstract%29.pdf
first_indexed	2018-09-06T16:25:12Z
last_indexed	2018-09-06T16:25:12Z
_version_	1610876046894170112

Molecular Methods for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Studies of Parasitic Infections

Similar Items