China ; Classification ; Fungi ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism ; History, 20th Century ; Mycology ; history

Drosophila melanogaster is a useful model organism that offers essential insights into developmental and cellular processes shared with humans, which has been adapted for large scale analysis of medically important microbes and to test the toxicity of heavy metals, industrial solvents and other poisonous substances. We here give a brief review of the use of the Drosophila model in medical mycology, discuss the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the opportunistic human pathogen, Aspergillus fumigatus, and give a brief summary of what is known about the toxicity of some common fungal VOCs. Further, we discuss the use of VOC detection as an indirect indicator of fungal growth, including for early diagnosis of aspergillosis. Finally, we hypothesize that D. melanogaster has promise for investigating the role of VOCs synthesized by A. fumigatus as possible virulence factors.
Aspergillosis ; Aspergillus fumigatus* ; Aspergillus* ; Drosophila melanogaster* ; Drosophila* ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Metals, Heavy ; Mycology ; Solvents ; Virulence Factors ; Volatile Organic Compounds

Mucormycosis is a highly aggressive and fatal fungal infection. Due to its rapid progression, combination of early wide surgical debridement with administration of antifungal agent is extremely crucial. European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and European Confedration of Medical Mycology recommended amphotericin B as the first-line of treatment and posaconazole as the salvage agent for mucormycosis. We report a case of rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis successfully treated by changing antifungal agent from the first-line amphotericin B to the salvage agent posaconazole. A 57-years-old female with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus was presented with foot abscess and rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis. The infection was intractable despite orbital orbital exenteration with surgical debridement and 2 months of antibiotics treatment including amphotericin B. Changing amphotericin B to posaconazole resulted in clinical improvement within the first week. Conclusively the newly administered antifungal agent, posaconazole is expected to be an effective salvage treatment option for mucormycosis after failure of initial treatment of amphotericin B with surgical management.
Abscess ; Amphotericin B ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Communicable Diseases ; Debridement ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Female ; Foot ; Humans ; Mucormycosis* ; Mycology ; Orbit

Annual proficiency surveys were conducted in March, June, and September in 2015 by the Clinical Microbiology Subcommittee of the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service. The program covers the sections of bacteriology, advanced bacteriology and mycology, mycobacteriology, and parasitology. Each trial was composed of three sets of different combinations of five bacteria and yeasts. These sets were distributed among laboratories for Gram staining, culture, identification, and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Five slides with fixed sputum smears were provided as part of each trial for acid-fast bacilli detection. The survey material distribution was section-based. Two survey materials were provided in each trial, while five specimens for mycobacterial culture and identification, five specimens for anti-tuberculosis susceptibility testing and two Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains for rapid detection of rifampin and isoniazid resistance were distributed in the March and June trials. Five virtual microscopy files for stool parasite examination were availed by registered participants in the June trial. Out of the 334 enrolled laboratories, 328 (98.2%), 328 (98.2%), and 329 (98.5%) submitted responses in trials I, II, and III, respectively. Identification of bacteria, namely, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Vibrio fluvialis by more than 95% of participants was acceptable. Surveillance cultures for vancomycin-resistant enterococci and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae were determined accurately by 75.8%–85.3% and 93.1% of the respondents, respectively. Species-level identification of Candida krusei, Candida lusitanae, and Candida guilliermondii was still low at 79.8%, 55.7%, and 42.7%, respectively. Disk diffusion method revealed an unacceptably high false-positive rate of resistance to glycopeptides in E. faecalis and to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in S. pneumoniae. Advanced bacteriology trials revealed unsatisfactory results for species-level identification of moulds. Mycobacterial culture, identification and susceptibility testing, and molecular detection of rifampin and isoniazid resistance were performed exceedingly well by participants. Hymenolepsis diminuta could not be identified by participants, with a correct answer rate of only 46.5% and ‘no parasite seen’ answer rate of only 31.8% for negative specimens. Species-level identification of Candida and moulds was challenging for clinical microbiology laboratories. Disk diffusion method was found to be problematic in testing the susceptibility of microorganisms to glycopeptides and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Improvement is required in result interpretation of negative specimens in parasitology.
Bacteria ; Bacteriology ; Candida ; Diffusion ; Enterobacteriaceae ; Enterococcus faecalis ; Escherichia coli ; Glycopeptides ; Isoniazid ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Korea* ; Methods ; Microscopy ; Mycobacterium ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Mycology ; Parasites ; Parasitology ; Pneumonia ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Quality Control ; Rifampin ; Sputum ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination ; Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci ; Vibrio ; Yeasts

Medical mycology has gone through five distinct eras: 1) Fungi causing dermatophytoses, 2) Discovery of rare and fatal systemic mycoses, 3) Realization that fungi cause common and subclinical diseases, 4) AIDS and the era of the compromised host, 5) Broad-spectrum antifungals with few side effects. Chromoblastomycosis caused by a group of dematiaceous fungi is a common disease in china. To date almost 500 cases have been repoted. This article aims to introduce epidemiology, microbiology, clinical features, laboratory diagnosis and treatment of chromoblastomycosis in china.
China ; Chromoblastomycosis ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Fungi ; Mycology ; Mycoses ; Tinea

AIMTo identify heterogeneity of Candida albicans (C. albicans) isolated from the population with cancer in China by using identification medium, subculture molecular typing, and antifungal susceptibility test.

METHODOLOGYOral cheek mucosal specimens from 52 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy were cultured on CHROMagar Candida plates for Candida identification. All the C. albicans colonies on the plates were subcultured and reconfirmed by API20C, then submitted to the antifungal drug susceptibility test with fluconazole and molecular typing using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR (RAPD) with primers RSD6 and RSD12.

RESULTS54% (28/52) patients were oral yeast carriage in which C. albicans predominated. More than 7 C. albicans colonies were isolated from each of 12 patients (Group A), while less than 5 colonies were isolated from each of 16 patients (Group B). RSD6 and RSD12 were successful in eliciting 17 (A1-A17) and 2 (B1-B2) genotypes, respectively from among the 205 isolates. The two primers were combined to generate 21 genotypes. The C. albicans isolates obtained from the same patient and episode showed a diversity for fluconazole revealed by MIC50 and MIC90.

CONCLUSIONThe heterogeneity of the C. albicans colonies isolated from the same patients can be detected. C. albicans with varied fluconazole susceptibility and genotypic characteristics may coexist in the same oral Candida population.

Adult ; Aged ; Antifungal Agents ; pharmacology ; Candida albicans ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Candida glabrata ; classification ; isolation & purification ; Candidiasis, Oral ; microbiology ; China ; DNA, Fungal ; analysis ; Drug Resistance, Fungal ; genetics ; Female ; Fluconazole ; pharmacology ; Genetic Heterogeneity ; Genotype ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Middle Aged ; Mouth Mucosa ; microbiology ; Mycology ; methods ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Young Adult

The body location and clinical appearance of fungal infections depends on the fungal virulence, infectious route and host immunological state. The result being that patients with mycoses consult with different clinical departments. The diagnosis of mycoses is based on the detection of fungal elements such as hyphae and/or yeast cells from the involved tissues. Isolation of the fungus is the precondition for species identification and antifungal treatment. To think clinically and to emphasize the mycology is the basic consideration of medical mycology research. Mycologists play a key role in the collaboration between the clinical and laboratory aspects. The clinician always wants to know what the fungus is and how to treatment the mycosis. Fungal pathogens are often stealthy and difficult to detect in infected patients during the early stages of the diseases and this is when therapies would be the most effective. Routine techniques commonly employed in the detection of fungal diseases including microscopic examination, culturing and serology are seriously hampered by lengthy waits of times for results and low accuracy. The clinician may want prophylaxis or to use empirical antifungal treatment to see if it does/does not work. The problem is that some of the patients do not respond to the antifungal treatment, because the doctor lacked sufficient evidence of fungus infection to give the doctor confidence to continue treatment. Accurate and early diagnosis of fungal diseases is critical for managing mycotic diseases. This is usually done by direct microscopic examination (DME) of KOH preparations. Good specimens are the key point that directly affects the quality of microscopic evidence and culture. The most important aspect is culturing samples on different media with or without chloramphenicol and cycloheximide and incubated at room temperature and 37degrees C. Early treatment could save a patient's life. We start treatment at the time we have the proof of fungal infection, i.e., KOH positive. Itraconazole, fluconazole, terbinafine, amphotericin B or its liposome form, can be used alone or in combination based on the fungal species involved and the site of infection.
Amphotericin B ; China ; Chloramphenicol ; Cooperative Behavior ; Cycloheximide ; Early Diagnosis ; Fluconazole ; Fungi ; Humans ; Hyphae ; Itraconazole ; Liposomes ; Mycology ; Mycoses ; Naphthalenes ; Yeasts

In general, fungi including yeast and filamentous form, locate in soil, water, plant, animal and human. Fungi can be survived almost in every environmental conditions and be useful or harmful for humans. Some human pathogenic fungi may infection immunocompromised peoples and/or susceptible hosts causing hypersensitivity disease, mycotoxicoses, which can be induced by mycotoxins, and mycoses. Mycoses are classified into four classes, such as superficial and/or cutaneous mycoses, subcutaneous mycoses, opportunistic mycoses, and systemic or deep seated mycoses. Recently, due to the increasement of immune system defective patients which are usually caused by HIV infection, transplant and cancer, opportunistic systemic fungal infection has been dramatically elevated. Fast diagnose system and early antifungal treatments are required because the morbidity and mortality of these systemic infections are very high. Although these opportunistic infections caused by mainly Candida, Aspergillus and Cryptococcus spp. are getting higher, no culture collection and/or strain bank for the infectious fungal strains are operated in Korea. These situations allows us to establish a novel Korean collection of medical fungi (KCMF) for their genetic materials. KCMF will be a hub for human pathogenic fungal strains isolated in Korea and will serve to studies of clinical and basic mycological research as well as to maintain various mutants and varieties which could be useful for develop new antifungal agents and drug discovery. The successful Korean Collection of Medical Fungi (KCMF) will contribute to; 1. Create informative world-wide culture collection of clinically isolated fungal strains. 2. Obtain various medical mycological materials as well as antifungal agent resistant strains for studying fungi-related topics including novel antifungal agents. 3. Create world-wide network for the researchers who study medical mycology and provide workshop and various information for the fungal community. The purpose of establish a novel Korean collection of medical fungi(KCMF) is to isolate, classify, and collect human pathogenic fungal strains, isolated from human clinical specimens from superficial and systemic infections. Furthermore, maintaining a culture collection for Korean specific clinical isolates and resistant strains of antifungal agents.
Animals ; Antifungal Agents ; Aspergillus ; Candida ; Cryptococcus ; Fungi ; HIV Infections ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immune System ; Korea ; Mycology ; Mycoses ; Mycotoxicosis ; Mycotoxins ; Opportunistic Infections ; Plants ; Soil ; Sprains and Strains ; Transplants ; Yeasts

For the education, sharing the information and research for medical mycology, the Korean Society for Medical Mycology (KSMM) was established in March 9, 1994. Since 1994, meetings of the KSMM have been held annually in June, workshop in August, and symposium in November. The First Symposium Workshop of the KSMM was held on July 12, 1997. Main topics for lectures and practices included identification and microscopic findings of dermatophytes. Also identification of unidentified pathogenic organisms, Malassezia, and Candida were done. The First Mycology Workshop of the KSMM was held on 14 November 1998. Main topics for lectures and practices included identification and microscopic findings of dermatophytes. Also identification of unidentified pathogenic organisms, Malassezia, and Candida were done. Since December 1996, Korean Journal of Medical Mycology, official journal of the KSMM, had been published biannually. Since volume 5 in 2000, it has been published quarterly and one hundred forty copies have been distributed in worldwide.
Arthrodermataceae ; Candida ; Education ; Lectures ; Malassezia ; Mycology*

For the education, sharing the information and research for medical mycology, the Korean Society for Medical Mycology (KSMM) was established in March 9, 1994. Since 1994, meetings of the KSMM have been held annually in June, workshop in August, and symposium in November. The First Symposium Workshop of the KSMM was held on July 12, 1997. Main topics for lectures and practices included identification and microscopic findings of dermatophytes. Also identification of unidentified pathogenic organisms, Malassezia, and Candida were done. The First Mycology Workshop of the KSMM was held on 14 November 1998. Main topics for lectures and practices included identification and microscopic findings of dermatophytes. Also identification of unidentified pathogenic organisms, Malassezia, and Candida were done. Since December 1996, Korean Journal of Medical Mycology, official journal of the KSMM, had been published biannually. Since volume 5 in 2000, it has been published quarterly and one hundred forty copies have been distributed in worldwide.
Arthrodermataceae ; Candida ; Education ; Lectures ; Malassezia ; Mycology*