Information services in medical mycology

The need for information services in medical mycology is discussed. The information service provided by the Review of Medical and Veterinary Mycology is described and compared with other information services.     

A review of medical mycology in Colombia,South America

Summary A review of the mycotic cases diagnosed in Colombia is presented. The deep mycoses have been all observed, with the exception of North American Blastomycosis. The commonest entities are South American Blastomycosis, Sporotrichosis and Chromoblastomycosis.Among the superficial mycoses, tinea capitis and corporis were noticed most frequently.Microsporon canis was isolated in most instances. Some other superficial mycoses, as Pityriasis versicolor and Piedra were also observed.National references pertaining to the subject are included.

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Sumpaio Se presenta una revisión de los cases colombianos de Micosis. Todos los tipos de micosis profundas, con excepción de la Blastomicosis Norteamericana, han sido observados en nuestro territorio. Como entidades más frecuentes podemos anotar la Blastomicosis Suramericana, la Esporotricosis y la Cromoblastomicosis.Entre las micosis superficiales se anota una mayor incidencia de tinea capitis y corporis, siendo elMicrosporon canis el agente etiológico aislado más frecuentemente. Se reporta igualmente la incidencia de otras formas superficiales, tales como, la pitiriasis versicolor y la piedra del cabello.Se incluye la literatura nacional obtenida sobre el tema.

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Part of this work was presented as a thesis for the degree of Doctor in Medicine to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Antioquia by one of us (Sánchez-Arbelaéz J.) in 1957.     

我国医学真菌学研究主要进展

随着医学科学的发展,医学真菌学受到了全世界的广泛重视.近半个世纪来,我国医学真菌学研究取得了巨大的进步,在真菌在自然界的定位、生态学、流行病学、分子生物学、真菌病诊断与治疗等诸多方面作出了显著成绩.本文对我国在医学真菌学研究的主要进展做一介绍.     

The role of flow cytometry in medical mycology

The alarming increase in fungal diseases among hospitalized patients is a serious problem as these infections often have poor prognosis because of delayed diagnosis and lack of proper therapy. The rapid laboratory diagnosis of these diseases still remains problematic. The areas of concern include accurate identification of pathogenic fungi, rapid testing of their susceptibility to antifungals, and reliable determination of their interrelatedness to other clinical isolates. In the past few decades, flow cytometry has proven to be an adaptive technology platform for diagnostics. The applications encompass identification, serotyping, genotyping, susceptibility testing, and molecular pathogenesis studies. The recent revolution in the miniaturizing and customizing of instrumentation has now made this technology more accessible and affordable. In the near future, it is imperative to develop standardized protocols by means of interlaboratory comparisons and to share reagents for reproducibility studies. Flow cytometry remains highly attractive as an integrated application for myriad tasks in medical mycology laboratories.     

The role of nuclear magnetic resonance in medical mycology

With the continued emergence of drug-resistant invasive mycoses, rapid fungal identification and susceptibility testing are needed. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy generates complex data (“fingerprints”) based on chemical composition and metabolite profiles, which can be applied to suspensions of living microorganisms or mammalian cells, cell and tissue extracts, biological fluids, tissue biopsies, and noninvasive diagnosis in patients when linked to MRI. Closely related fungal species can be rapidly identified based on their NMR spectra, and antifungal drug effects can be measured as metabolic end points. The feasibility of classifying groups of microorganisms directly from biological samples has been demonstrated in animal models and human infections. Potential advantages of NMR spectroscopy in medical mycology include accurate identification, automated sample delivery, automated analysis using computer-based methods, rapid turnaround time, high throughput, and low running costs. More work is needed to validate the automated approach on large data sets covering a broad spectrum of potential pathogens.     

医学真菌学研究现状与对策

真菌病尤其是深部真菌感染病例数日益增多,真菌病已成为影响人类生活质量、威胁生命健康的重要疾病之一.尽管医学真菌学研究这些年获得了显著进步,但仍有许多亟待解决的问题.深入研究病原真菌的特性,切实提高真菌病的诊断和防治水平,是每个医学真菌学工作者面临的严峻挑战.     

Comparative study of two culture conservation methods in medical mycology

The efficiency of two fungal conservation methods was compared: Suspension in sterile distilled water and subcultures on potato dextrose agar (PDA) slants at 4 °C. One hundred and eleven strains corresponding to 84 different-species of microorganisms studied in medical mycology were evaluated. The efficiency of each method was estimated by the survival percentage and the preservation of the morphological features of each strain within a seven-year period. From the 111 strains, 79 (71.2%) were preserved viable in water, compared to 86 (77.5%) strains preserved by subculture on PDA slants. Concerning morphological features 75 of the 79 water viable strains (94.9%) conserved their morphology. In contrast, only 60 of the 86 strains (69.8%) conserved their typical morphology by the PDA subculture method. The water conservation method offers important benefits over serial subculture such as: Minimal pleomorphism, simple, rapid and requiring few materials. Thus, the water conservation method is recommended for laboratories where specialized conservation equipment is not available.