Waste products excreted from the digestive tract are composed of water (up to 75%), indigestible residue, undigested food, food which is digested but not absorbed, bile, epithelial cells, secretions from the digestive tract, inorganic material, and bacteria. The normal amount of feces in an adult is 100-200 grams per day. Examination of feces is helpful in the investigation of diseases…
Description: Wallach’s Interpretation of Diagnostic Tests, now in its Ninth Edition, has been completely revised and updated by a new author team from the Department of Hospital Laboratories, UMass Memorial Medical Center faculty, who are carrying on the tradition of Jacques Wallach’s teachings. This text serves as a practical guide to the use of laboratory tests which aids physicians in…
Spanish health authorities said on Thursday they were investigating a possible outbreak of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) which has killed one man and infected a nurse, in the first non-imported case reported in Western Europe. The 62-year-old man died on Aug. 25 after contracting the CCHF disease during a walk in the Castilla-Leon region, probably from a tick bite he…
Since some species exhibit periodicity (i.e. circulation of microfilariae in increased numbers at certain times of the day), blood should be collected at the correct time to improve the chances of detection. For Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi showing nocturnal periodicity, blood should be collected at night between 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Microfilariae are present in greater numbers in…
Malaria parasites can be detected by identification of specific nucleic acid sequences in their DNA. Methods based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have been developed for identification of DNA of malaria parasite. Species diagnosis is also possible. PCR-based methods can detect very low levels of parasites in blood (< 5 parasites/μl of blood) with very high sensitivity and specificity. …
Life history of malaria parasite consists of two cycles of development: asexual cycle or schizogony that occurs in humans and sexual cycle or sporogony that occurs in mosquitoes. Asexual cycle (human cycle, schizogony) This occurs in the liver cells and red blood cells of infected humans, and therefore humans are the intermediate hosts of the malaria parasite (Schizogony refers to…
