ABSTRACT
Damp environments with suitable temperature such as swimming pools and public baths produce appropriate conditions for growth and spread of fungi. Investigation of opportunistic and pathogenic fungi in these places can be helpful for elimination or reduction of the rate of potential fungal infections. This study was performed to find fungal contamination in the student hostels in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. Samples were collected from the walls and floors of the bathrooms and were cultured in Sabouraud dextrose agar medium containing chloramphenicol [SC], and Sabouraud dextrose agar medium containing chloramphenicol and cyclohexamide [SCC]. All cultures were incubated at 28 C, and were observed weekly for fungal growth. All fungal isolates were identified by macroscopic and microscopic examination. A total of 256 samples were collected.196samples [56/76%] were positivefor fungal growth. The most common fungi were: Cladosporium spp. [28.9%], Exophialla spp. [23.3%], and Rodutorella spp. [13.2%]. Also Trichophitonmentagrophytes and Microsporumgypseum were isolated from baths samples. For prevention of mycotic infections, effective preventive measures such as use of private or disposable slippers and adequate cleaning of the bathrooms after taking bath can be beneficial
ABSTRACT
Total number of fungal species has been estimated over 1.5 million, of which less than 10 percent have formally been described. Advances made in molecular biology, development of gene and genome sequence technologies, discovery and description of new species among different clusters of life, especially fungi, has been accelerated. With respect to the failure of morphological-based species recognition methods for fungi identification, use and application of DNA based identification methods have assumed great importance for rapid and accurate identification of fungal species. DNA barcoding is of central importance among the new approaches for the identification of fungi and pseudo fungi and has been used during the last 10 years. For fungi, the internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA [ITS-rDNA] has become an appropriate barcode. Efficacy of ITS-rDNA sequence data in successful identification of fungal species has resulted in general agreement among mycologists to use ITS-rDNA region as a gold standard barcode for fungi. However, it seems that ITS-rDNA region will be used as the primary barcode for identification of fungal species and accurate identification will further be performed by use of sequence data from the other genomic loci as secondary barcodes. Considering the pleomorphic nature of the fungi, use of DNA barcoding has assumed higher importance. Hundreds of thousands of reference barcodes have been generated for a great number of species by DNA barcoding projects. Scientists now are facing new challenges for barcode data management, facilitation and acceleration in species identification process using DNA barcodes by the end-users through automation of DNA barcoding system
Subject(s)
Mycoses/diagnosis , Tubulin , Electron Transport Complex IV , Species Specificity , DNA, RibosomalABSTRACT
Invasive aspergillosis [IA] is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in severely immuno-compromised patients. Despite the advances made in diagnostic methods, accurate diagnosis of IA is not easy. At the present time, in Iran, the diagnosis is most often made based on a combination of clinical and abnormal radiologic findings, which are nonspecific, and the treatment is often given without establishing the diagnosis. Considering the invasive and progressive nature of the disease, if proper diagnostic methods are not used, control of the disease will be difficult. Therefore establishing the diagnosis of IA at an early stage by non-invasive and specific methods is necessary for early successful treatment. The detection of circulating galactomannan [GM] antigen in serum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid and tissue has become an important method for the early diagnosis of IA. Recent data have indicated that this test has a high specify and sensitivity and is more valuable than other methods such as culture and CT scan. In general this method is non-invasive, time-saving and specific which permits early treatment of the disease and helps physicians to select the proper treatment and other clinical measures. Certainly, well designed prospective studies with systematic sampling and use of accepted definations are required to compare the efficiency of antigen detection in different samples and population