Indian J Med Res
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In India, spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFGR) are an underdiagnosed cause of acute febrile illness (AFI). The non-specific Weil-Felix test is the first diagnostic modality for the diagnosis of SFGR in many laboratories due to the lack of advanced diagnostic facilities in developing countries. The aim of this study was to detect SFGR using molecular methods in the patients, presenting with AFI in a tertiary care centre in north India. ⋯ This study showed the existence of R. conorii in north India. Testing for SFGR may be included in the diagnostic workup of AFI for better disease management.
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For bacterial community analysis, 16S rRNA sequences are subjected to taxonomic classification through comparison with one of the three commonly used databases [Greengenes, SILVA and Ribosomal Database Project (RDP)]. It was hypothesized that a unified database containing fully annotated, non-redundant sequences from all the three databases, might provide better taxonomic classification during analysis of 16S rRNA sequence data. Hence, a unified 16S rRNA database was constructed and its performance was assessed by using it with four different taxonomic assignment methods, and for data from various hypervariable regions (HVRs) of 16S rRNA gene. ⋯ Our results indicate that for analysis of bacterial mixtures, sequencing of V2-V3 region of 16S rRNA followed by analysis of the data using the mothur-nbc classifier and our 16S-UDb database may be preferred.
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Dengue diagnosis is routinely carried out by detection of dengue virus (DENV) antigen NS1 and/or anti-DENV IgM antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). This study was aimed at evaluation of quality of diagnostic assays currently in use in India for the identification of DENV infection. ⋯ These results confirmed superiority of ELISAs, and testing for both NS1 and IgM markers for dengue diagnosis, and emphasized on improvement in sensitivity of RDTs.