POSTMORTEM DIAGNOSIS OF FUSARIUM PANOPHTHALMITIS BY THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

PURPOSE: We undertook this study to determine if a polymerase chain re action-based test that we developed for the filamentary fungus, Fusari um, 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 pa tient with endogenous Fusarium panophthalmitis. RESULTS: By using the polymerase chain reaction-based test, we were able to amplify the targ et fragment of DNA from the infected eyes, but not from uninfected con trol eyes. CONCLUSIONS: The technique appears to hold promise to be a sensitive, specific, and rapid method of diagnosing Fusarium infection s.