Fungous Cultures Research Articles

OPPORTUNISTIC INVASIVE MYCOSES IN HIV-INFECTED PATIENTS

Aim. To study the peculiarities of the clinical course of invasive mycosis in HIV-infected patients so as to improve early diagnosis and timely adequate antimycotic therapy. Materials and methods. Over the period of 2007-2014. 62 patients including 34 patients with cryptococcosis, 28 - with invasive candidosis were observed at Perm Regional Clinical Infectious Hospital. Life-time diagnosis of invasive mycosis was fixed in 55 patients, postmortem - in 7 patients on the basis of complex clinicolaboratory, instrumental and mycologic methods including isolation and identification of fungous cultures. Results. Invasive fungous infections in HIV-infected patients are characterized by severe course with affection of central nervous system, development of multisystem insufficiency and high lethality (cryptococcosis - 50 %, candidosis - 36 %). Clinical manifestations of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis and invasive candidosis are nonspecific and similar to identical diseases of other etiology. The risk factors are the following: immunodeficiency (CD4 lower than 200 kl/mkl), lack of antiretroviral therapy and presence of superficial candidosis foci. Conclusions. Thus, so as to administer a timely and adequate antimycotic therapy, diagnosis of invasive fungous infections in HIV-infected patients should be complex including clinicoinstrumental studies and obligatory mycologic analysis of blood, liquor and other biological materials.

Trichophyton simii Infection in the United States

This report describes the first case of tinea corporis due to<i>Trichophyton simii</i>recognized in the United States. The patient, a 25-year old female Caucasian student, developed a 3 × 3 cm red scaling patch on the right forearm four and one half months after she arrived in India. Eight weeks later, after examination at the University of Chicago Clinics,<i>Trichophyton simii</i>was identified from fungous cultures. Inoculation of the organism in guinea pigs produced an endothrix infection with brilliant light green fluorescence under Wood's light. The cultural and microscopic features of this organism, indigenous to India, are described.

Effect of Warming Rates on the Viability of Frozen Fungous Spores

The successful application of ultra-low temperatures to the preservation of a broad range of living materials (1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 17, 19) has stimulated interest in the use of cryogenics as an alternative to freezedrying for the preservation of fungous cultures. Alternatives to freezedrying are needed, inasmuch as some fungi do not sporulate sufficiently to be handled by this method, and others simply fail to survive the freeze-dry process (5). Hwang (8) reported the successful use of cryogenic procedures for the preservation of a wide variety of fungous cultures, and, more recently, Wellman and Walden (21) and Hwang (unpublished) have found that the mycelium and hyphal tips of fungi will survive freezing and thawing. Successful preservation of the normally short-lived rust urediospores and pycniospores in liquid nitrogen has also been reported (1, 11), with the result that a collection of plant rusts has been initiated at the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) (10). Based on the studies of Hwang (8, and unpublished), low-temperature preservation is being used increasingly at the ATCC for the longterm maintenance of fungi that do not sporulate or that otherwise fail to survive the freeze-dry process. In developing an expanded program for preservation of fungi by cryogenic methods, investigations on various aspects of the freezing procedure are needed to determine factors affecting the survival and recovery of fungi from the frozen state. Studies by Mazur (14, 16, 17, 18), Smith (19) and others (12, 13, 20) have shown that injury to biological systems can occur during both the freezing and thawing processes. Best results in preserving living material by freezing have generally been achieved when slow cooling at approximately 1 C per minute has been followed by rapid warming.1

Conservation of fungous cultures

Conservation of fungous cultures

Use of Lindane to Control Mites in Fungous Cultures

Use of Lindane to Control Mites in Fungous Cultures

Tarsonemus confusus, contaminant of fungus cultures.

Specimens of fungous cultures kept in refrigerators can be preserved for a considerable length of time without risking contamination. However, culture collections which are not stored in refrigerators but are exposed to dust in cabinets are at times attracted by mites. After perusal of available American literature we found that no mention is made of these contaminants, and therefore we deem it of interest to report our findings. PRESENT FINDINGS AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE On examining a culture mount of a month-old Microsporum lanosum culture we observed a typical mite with several ova (Figs. 1 and 2), which was identified as Tarsonemus confusus Ewing. There was no macroscopic evidence on surface of culture which would have indicated such an infestation. The only informative reference which we have traced is that of Langeron,1who considers these mites as the enemies of fungus cultures. The mites belong

Mineral Oil and Preservation of Fungous Cultures

Mineral Oil and Preservation of Fungous Cultures

Mineral Oil and Preservation of Fungous Cultures

(1949). Mineral Oil and Preservation of Fungous Cultures. Mycologia: Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 632-636.

THE INFLUENCE OF MINERAL OIL UPON THE OXYGEN CONSUMPTION OF SORDARIA FIMICOLA

THE APPLICATION of the mineral oil conservation method to maintaining large collections of fungous cultures has been described in the preceding paper (Buell and Weston, 1947). In connection with that study it seemed desirable to determine to what extent respiratory changes were brought about in the cultures under oil. We have been unable to find any reports dealing with respiratory studies of bacteria and fungi covered with oil. Several investigations have been reported on the viability of fungous cultures preserved over a period of time by means of paraffin or mineral oil (see Buell and Weston, 1947, for bibliography) and of bacterial cultures so treated (Morton and Pulaski, 1938; Rahn and Richardson, 1941). Studies have also been made of the diffusion of oxygen through mineral and vegetable oils of various densities (Sawaya, 1945) and through various bacterial media (Rahn and Richardson, 1941). Although not bearing directly upon the present problem, it should be noted that an interesting discussion of the breakdown and synthesis of oils by marine bacteria is presented in a recent book by Zobell (1946). In the present series of experiments we have applied a micro-respirometric technique to the study of the oxygen consumption of normal and oil-covered cultures of Sordaria fimicola (Rob.) Ces. and de Not. The data so obtained provide a physiological basis for the mineral oil conservation method. MATERIAL AND METHODS.-The fungus used in this study was a strain of Sordaria fimicola, an Ascomycete, originally obtained as one of the organisms isolated from a textile exposure test conducted in Panama. A modification of the method originally described by Hansen for isolation of pure yeast (Prescott and Dunn, 1940) was used under aseptic conditions to obtain the single spore isolations with which the stock cultures were inoculated. A dilute spore suspension of Sordaria fimicola was micropipetted onto the area of potato maltose agar which had been divided into minute squares with a razor. The spores germinated in about 4-6 hours. Shortly after germination occurred the slide was removed from the chamber and placed under the microscope. A square of agar with one spore was then selected, removed from the slide by means of a sterile needle and transferred to a slant of nutrient agar. The mature perithecia of the resulting colony were used as inocula for the experimental flasks. The flasks each contained 10 cc. of potato maltose agar and were incubated at 260C. following inoculation. The oxygen consumption was measured by means

Application of the Mineral Oil Conservation Method to Maintaining Collections of Fungous Cultures

Application of the Mineral Oil Conservation Method to Maintaining Collections of Fungous Cultures

CLINICAL EVALUATION OF UNDECYLENIC ACID AS A FUNGICIDE

DURING recent years there have appeared in the literature several reports concerning the fungicidal action of various fatty acids and their salts. The undecylenic acid was discovered to be most effective in laboratory and clinical experiments. Only clinical observations, however, are decisive in evaluating the usefulness of chemical substances in the treatment of fungous diseases of the skin. Laboratory tests in vitro are interesting but not convincing. Often chemicals which give striking results with fungous cultures in test tubes prove entirely useless when applied to human skin. The observations herein reported were made during the period from October 1944 to January 1946 on patients of the New York University Skin Clinic who were suffering from fungous infections of the skin and nails. Ringworm of the scalp was not included in this investigation. The diagnosis in all cases was established by microscopic examination of scrapings. Cultures were made only at the

EFFECT OF MOCCASIN SNAKE VENOM (ANCISTRODON PISCIVORUS) IN HEMORRHAGIC CONDITIONS

This report concerns the control of various types of bleeding by means of subcutaneous injections of a snake venom. In our experience this method has proved superior to the other forms of treatment commonly employed in cases characterized by a hemorrhagic tendency other than hemophilia or thrombocytopenic purpura haemorrhagica. In 1928, Shwartzman1described a phenomenon of skin reactivity (local hemorrhagic necrosis) to bacterial filtrates, which was produced when intradermal injections of these filtrates were followed at a suitable interval by intravenous injections. In 1930, one of us (S. M. P.) attempted, unsuccessfully, to produce the Shwartzman phenomenon with fungous extracts and then to render the reaction site more sensitive to the hypothetical toxic substances in fungous cultures by previous local injections of a vascular poison, snake venom. This proved unsuccessful. In the course of experiments2it was found that, if a period of from fourteen days to one

Control of Mites Attacking Stocks of Insects and Fungous Cultures

MITES have long been a great hindrance to the experimental entomologist and mycologist. Successful efforts have recently been made at the Imperial College Biological Field Station to kill mites and their eggs by fumigation, without harming to any considerable extent insects or fungi.