Laboratory diagnosis of tropical infections.

This article covers the laboratory diagnosis of infections that occur predominantly in the tropics. The discussion includes diagnosis of blood and tissue parasites, intestinal parasites, and tropical infections caused by fungi, bacteria, and mycobacteria. The laboratory performance of techniques for the identification of intestinal parasites and special requirements for the collection of specimens for virology testing are also discussed. Images demonstrating the characteristic features of selected tropical parasites and fungi are included for reference.