A New Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction Method Very Efficient in Detecting Plasmodium and Haemoproteus Infections From Avian Blood

• DOI: 10.1645/ge-3221rn
• Publication Date: 2006-07-16T19:42:21Z
• Authors: J. Waldenström; S. Bensch; D. Hasselquist; Ö Östman
• Keywords: Haemoproteus; Plasmodium (life cycle)

Recently, several polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–based methods for detection and genetic identification of haemosporidian parasites in avian blood have been developed. Most these considerably higher sensitivity compared with traditional microscope-based examinations smears. These new already had a strong impact on aspects research parasites. In this study, we present nested PCR approach, building previously published method, which has significantly improved performance. We compare the method some existing assays show, by sequence-based data, that rate is mainly due to superior Plasmodium spp. infections, often are low intensity and, therefore, hard detect other methods.