Postmortem diagnosis of Fusarium panophthalmitis by the polymerase chain reaction.
OBJECTIVE
We undertook this study to determine if a polymerase chain reaction-based test that we developed for the filamentary fungus, Fusarium, could be used to detect the organism in postmortem ocular tissues.


METHODS
We applied the polymerase chain reaction to amplify a target fragment of Fusarium DNA from formalin-fixed ocular tissues from a patient with endogenous Fusarium panophthalmitis.


RESULTS
By using the polymerase chain reaction-based test, we were able to amplify the target fragment of DNA from the infected eyes, but not from uninfected control eyes.


CONCLUSIONS
The technique appears to hold promise to be a sensitive, specific, and rapid method of diagnosing Fusarium infections.
Alexandrakis
G
G
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Sears
M
M
Gloor
P
P
D015139:Blotting, Southern; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis; D005123:Eye / Q000382:microbiology; D015821:Eye Infections, Fungal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D005670:Fusarium / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009181:Mycoses / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D010202:Panophthalmitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
D004271:DNA, Fungal