Sama Faramarzi, Marjan Motamedi, Ali Rezaei-Matehkolaei, Shima Aboutalebian, Saham Ansari, Mojtaba Didehdar, Mehran Bahadoran, Hossein Mirhendi
{"title":"A simple multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay for rapid identification of the common pathogenic dermatophytes: Trichophyton interdigitale, Trichophyton rubrum, and Epidermophyton floccosum.","authors":"Sama Faramarzi, Marjan Motamedi, Ali Rezaei-Matehkolaei, Shima Aboutalebian, Saham Ansari, Mojtaba Didehdar, Mehran Bahadoran, Hossein Mirhendi","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.2.7030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18502/cmm.7.2.7030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>The most common etiological agents of human dermatophytosis in various parts of the world are <i>Trichophyton rubrum</i>, <i>Trichophyton interdigitale</i>, and <i>Epidermophyton floccosum</i>. The main aim of this study was to design and evaluate a simple and straightforward multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for reliable identification/differentiation of these species in clinical isolates.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>The reliable sequences of several molecular targets of dermatophytes species were used to design a multiplex PCR for the identification of common pathogenic dermatophytes. The isolates and clinical specimens examined in this study included seven standard strains of dermatophytes, 101 isolates of dermatophytes and non-dermatophyte molds/yeasts which had already been identified by sequencing or PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), and 155 clinical samples from patients suspected of cutaneous mycoses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Species-specific primer pairs for <i>T. rubrum</i> and <i>T. interdigitale</i>/<i>T. mentagrophytes</i> were designed based on the sequence data of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene, and the primers for <i>E. floccosum</i> targeted the specific sequence of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS). The multiplex PCR successfully detected <i>T. rubrum</i>, <i>T. interdigitale</i>/<i>T. mentagrophytes</i>, and <i>E. floccosum</i> strains that were identified by sequencing or PCR-RFLP. However, the primer pairs selected for <i>T. interdigitale</i>/<i>T. mentagrophytes</i> cross-reacted with <i>Trichophyton tonsurans</i>. In testing the PCR system directly for clinical samples, the proportion of positive multiplex PCR was higher than positive culture (68.1% vs. 55.4%, respectively).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The multiplex assay could detect three common agents out of several causal agents of dermatophytosis, namely <i>T. rubrum</i>, <i>T. interdigitale</i>, and <i>E. floccosum</i>. Therefore, by adding pan-dermatophyte primers it can be used as a comprehensive detection/identification test.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 2","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8740852/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39909672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Behrouz Naeimi, Iman Mohsenifard, Saham Ansari, Farzaneh Sadeghzadeh, Gholamreza Khamisipour, Sina Dobaradaran, Fatemeh Faraji Ghasemi, Bahram Ahmadi
{"title":"Phenotypic features and molecular study of airborne <i>Penicillium</i> species isolated in the northern part of the Persian Gulf, Bushehr, Iran.","authors":"Behrouz Naeimi, Iman Mohsenifard, Saham Ansari, Farzaneh Sadeghzadeh, Gholamreza Khamisipour, Sina Dobaradaran, Fatemeh Faraji Ghasemi, Bahram Ahmadi","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.2.7035","DOIUrl":"10.18502/cmm.7.2.7035","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>The main environmental saprobes, such as <i>Penicillium</i>, play an essential role in natural ecosystems as economically, ecologically, and medically important microorganisms. Biodiversity of this genus has not been described in Bushehr city, Iran. The present study is based on air biodiversity of <i>Penicillium</i> species on culture-dependent approach and culture-independent technique using partial b-tubulin sequences.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>By using active sampling with a high volume air sampler, a total of 157 <i>Penicillium</i> isolates were selected and screened for phenotypic characters. For the purposes of the study, 46 strains representative of 11 morphological species were selected and identified by molecular analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Based on the findings, <i>P. crustosum</i> (18 isolates, 39.1%) and <i>P. chrysogenum</i> (15 isolates, 32.6%) were the most common isolated species, followed by <i>P. brevicompactum</i>, <i>P. rubens</i>, <i>P. citrinum</i>, <i>P. italicum</i> (each 2 isolates, 4.3%), <i>P. olsonii</i>, <i>P. expansum</i>, <i>P. griseofulvum</i>, <i>P. palitans</i>, and <i>P. polonicum</i> (each 1 isolate, 2.1%). Except for <i>P. chrysogenum</i> and <i>P. expansum</i> with floccose colony texture, the rest of the isolated species had velutinous texture.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This is the first report in southern Iran to identify a large number of <i>Penicillium</i> strains isolated from air samples, showing <i>P. crustosum</i> and <i>P. chrysogenum</i> as the most common isolated species.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 2","pages":"22-28"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8740856/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39910100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Differentiation of <i>Candida albicans</i> complex species isolated from invasive and non-invasive infections using <i>HWP1</i> gene size polymorphism.","authors":"Kourosh Salehipour, Shima Aboutalebian, Arezoo Charsizadeh, Bahram Ahmadi, Hossein Mirhendi","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.2.7034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18502/cmm.7.2.7034","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>Taxonomy of <i>Candida</i> is controversial and has changed due to the investigation of the novel species. <i>Candida africana</i> and <i>Candida dubliniensis</i> are new members of the <i>C. albicans</i> complex that are currently gaining both clinical and epidemiologic significance. This study aimed to report the prevalence of <i>C. africana</i> among the strains isolated from patients using hyphal wall protein 1 (<i>HWP1</i>) gene size polymorphism.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>In total, 235 yeasts confirmed as <i>C. albicans</i> complex based on chromogenic media and internal transcribed spacers sequencing isolated from various clinical forms of invasive and non-invasive candidiasis mainly candidemia were re-identified using <i>HWP1</i> gene polymorphisms. The <i>HWP1</i>-polymerase chain reaction amplicons were re-confirmed by sequencing and BLAST analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Based on the <i>HWP1</i> gene size polymorphism, 223 strains were identified as <i>C. albicans</i> (94.89%) from which 7 isolates produced two DNA fragments (850 and 941 bp). The <i>C. dubliniensis</i> (n=4, 1.7%), <i>C. africana</i> (n=1, 0.42%), and mix of <i>C. albicans</i> and <i>C. africana</i> (n=7, 2.97%) were also identified.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>It can be said that <i>C. albicans</i> remains the most common <i>Candida</i> species, while <i>C. dubliniensis</i> and <i>C. africana</i> are rarely found among the patient isolates. Due to limited information on the molecular epidemiology of this novel yeast, more studies using molecular methods are recommended.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 2","pages":"34-38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8740857/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39910102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asad Balal, Aghil Sharifzadeh, Hojjatollah Shokri, Ali Reza Khosravi
{"title":"Effects of <i>Bunium persicum</i> essential oil on the reduction of spore germination, growth, and expression of <i>FUM1</i> and <i>FUM14</i> genes in <i>Fusarium verticillioides</i> isolates.","authors":"Asad Balal, Aghil Sharifzadeh, Hojjatollah Shokri, Ali Reza Khosravi","doi":"10.18502/CMM.7.2.7033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18502/CMM.7.2.7033","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>Black Cumin of Kerman (<i>Bunium persicum</i>) is an Iranian plant that is commonly used as an antispasmodic, carminative, and antimicrobial substance. The present study aimed to assess different components of the essence of <i>B. persicum</i> and its effect on antifungal activity, spore germination inhibition, and expressions of <i>FUM1</i> and <i>FUM14</i> genes in <i>Fusarium verticillioides</i> strains.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>The essence was extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed through gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. A broth microdilution method was used for the determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). In addition, the expression of <i>FUM1</i> and <i>FUM14</i> genes of toxigenic <i>F. verticillioides</i> was assessed by using the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Based on the findings, most of the essence consisted of γ-terpinene (15.56%), propanal, and 2-methyl-3-phenyl (14.18%). The oil showed a good antifungal activity (mean MIC value: 2556.8 μg/ml) as well as the inhibition of spore germination and mycelial growth (<i>P</i><0.05). The RT-PCR demonstrated that the expression levels of <i>FUM1</i> and <i>FUM14</i> of <i>B. persicum</i>-treated <i>F. verticillioides</i> were 0.43 and 0.53 folds lower than the control samples, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings revealed that the essential oil of <i>B. persicum</i> has different components responsible for the inhibition of mycelial growth and spore germination of <i>F. verticillioides</i> as well as reduction of expressions of <i>FUM1</i> and <i>FUM14</i> genes involving fumonisin production.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 2","pages":"14-21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8740853/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39909674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trichophyton species isolated from asymptomatic patients of the pet-owner pair in Mexico.","authors":"Roberto Adame-Gomez, Monica Gisela Rodrigez-Romero, Isabel Hilario-Alejandro, Sandra Alheli Pineda-Rodriguez, Jeiry Toribio-Jimenez, Elvia Rodriguez-Bataz, Arturo Ramirez-Peralta","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.2.7029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18502/cmm.7.2.7029","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>Superficial mycoses are the fourth most common cause of disease worldwide. It is not surprising that zoonotic transmission occurs to humans due to close contact with different animals, be it companion or farm animals. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the presence of asymptomatic dermatophyte carriers in the owner-pet pairs, identify the most common etiologic agents, and find the likely connection between the carrier status of an owner and the presence of dermatophytes in their pets.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>From May 2019 to January 2020, 21 cats and 115 dogs with their respective owners were selected for dermatophyte culture. All the dogs and cats included in the study were from the communities of southeastern Mexico. The samples were taken with a cotton swab, which was vigorously rubbed and twisted on the scalp or body of the pet four times and grown on Mycosel Agar. The isolates were identified based on macroscopic and microscopic characteristics. The prevalence of the binomial ranged from 0.73% in pet skin and human hands to 2.2% in human scalp. In humans, the agents were <i>Trichophyton tonsurans</i> and <i>Trichophyton verrucosum</i>, while in pets, a strain of <i>Trichophyton sp</i> was found.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Different species of dermatophytes were found in the owner/pet pairs, which denotes that coexistence is not related in asymptomatic cases.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 2","pages":"29-33"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8740854/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39910101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Catastrophic <i>Candida</i> prosthetic valve endocarditis and COVID-19 comorbidity: A rare case.","authors":"Lotfollah Davoodi, Leila Faeli, Rogheye Mirzakhani, Rozita Jalalian, Tahereh Shokohi, Firoozeh Kermani","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.2.7157","DOIUrl":"10.18502/cmm.7.2.7157","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and <i>Candida</i> prostatic valve endocarditis present various clinical manifestations which may overlap; hence, discrimination between them is extremely difficult.</p><p><strong>Case report: </strong>The case was a 66-year-old man with a past medical history of mitral and aortic valves replacement one year before COVID-19 co-infection. He was admitted with fever (for 7 days), shortness of breath, cough, seizure, lethargy, headache, and 85% oxygen saturation. Transesophageal echocardiography revealed multiple large-sized, highly mobile masses on both sides of the mechanical mitral valve highly suggestive of vegetation. Chest computed tomography scanning showed simulating scattered COVID-19 peripheral ground-glass opacities confirmed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. The set of blood cultures yielded yeast colonies that were identified as <i>Candida tropicalis</i>. The patient died of septic shock shortly after receiving antifungal therapy.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This case emphasized the importance of early diagnosis and implementation of antifungal treatment, particularly in patients with prosthetic cardiac valves, to reduce their unfavorable outcomes in COVID-19 patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 2","pages":"43-47"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8740850/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39910104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mohammed Habib Belhachemi, Zahia Boucherit-Otmani, Kebir Boucherit, Sara Belmir
{"title":"Influence of ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol on the autoxidation and in vitro antifungal activity of amphotericin B.","authors":"Mohammed Habib Belhachemi, Zahia Boucherit-Otmani, Kebir Boucherit, Sara Belmir","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.1.6178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18502/cmm.7.1.6178","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>Amphotericin B (AmB) is the standard treatment for systemic fungal infections; however, the formation of reactive oxygen species reduces the efficacy and stability of this molecule. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the combination of AmB with ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol on its autoxidation and antifungal activity.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>The antifungal activity against <i>Candida albicans</i> was evaluated by the viable cell counting method and checking their morphological changes with a scanning electron microscope. Monomer state of AmB was assessed by scanning the UV absorbance in the range of 300-450 nm and the lipid peroxidation was measured using quantification of thiobarbituric acid reactive-substances (TBARS).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Based on the findings, the addition of ascorbic acid (3×10<sup>2</sup> µg/mL) and α-tocopherol (16 µg/mL) to the reaction medium of AmB increased its antifungal activity while maintaining its molecular stability. Moreover, the level of TBARS formed in the reaction medium of AmB was significantly reduced after combination with ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Given their availability, their anti-free radical activity, and their low toxicity, the incorporation of ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol into the reaction medium of AmB seems to be a promising approach to obtain an effective antifungal formulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 1","pages":"12-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8443877/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39439724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Molecular typing of clinical and environmental Aspergillus fumigatus isolates from Iran using microsatellites.","authors":"Hamid Badali, Tahereh Shokohi, Sadegh Khodavaisy, Maryam Moazeni, Masoumeh Farhadi, Mojtaba Nabili","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.1.6180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18502/cmm.7.1.6180","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>Because of the growing incidence of <i>Aspergillus</i> infection, typing methods of <i>Aspergillus</i> species are increasingly being used. Accordingly, studying the spread and population dynamics of strains isolating from clinical and environment, from a single host to large-scale ecosystems is definitely needed. In the current study, we carried out a genetic analysis of nine microsatellite loci in isolates from different regions of Iran to compare and explore the genetic diversity between environmental and clinical <i>A. fumigatus</i> strains.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>Sixty-six clinical (n=43) and environmental (n= 23) isolates of <i>A. fumigatus</i>, have collected from six cities of Iran. All <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates identified based on macroscopic and microscopic characters, the ability to grow at above 45°C, and confirmed using DNA sequencing of the partial b-tubulin gene. Sixty-six <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates were subjected by microsatellite typing using three separate multiplex PCRs with a panel of nine short tandem repeats (STR) to evaluate the genetic relatedness.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The STR typing of 66 <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates revealed 38 distinct genotypes distributed among environmental and clinical isolates. We identified 12 clones including 40 different isolates representing 60% of all isolates tested, which each clone included 2-7 isolates.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The STR typing is considered as a valuable tool with excellent discriminatory power to study the molecular epidemiology and genotypic diversity of <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates. These findings show that the high genetic diversity observed of Iranian <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates with those outside Iran and formed a separate cluster.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 1","pages":"25-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8443879/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39439726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Peyman Asadi, Ahmad Mehravaran, Nahid Soltanloo, Mahdi Abastabar, Javad Akhtari
{"title":"Nanoliposome-loaded antifungal drugs for dermal administration: A review.","authors":"Peyman Asadi, Ahmad Mehravaran, Nahid Soltanloo, Mahdi Abastabar, Javad Akhtari","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.1.6247","DOIUrl":"10.18502/cmm.7.1.6247","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cutaneous fungal infections are the fourth most common health problem, which involves approximately one billion people worldwide. Drug delivery to the skin seems to be the best choice for superficial fungal infections. Topical formulations can release a sufficient amount of drug in therapeutical concentrations and permeate higher layers of the skin like the stratum corneum. As the outermost layer of the epidermis, the stratum corneum prevents the drug from penetrating the skin. Liposomes, especially nanosized as topical drug delivery systems to the skin, can show various functions depending on their size, lipids and cholesterol components, the percent of ingredients, lamellarity, and surface charge. Nanoliposomes can increase permeation through the stratum corneum, decrease systemic effects with their localizing actions, and overcome many dermal drug delivery obstacles. Antifungal drugs, such as croconazole, econazole, fluconazole, ketoconazole, terbinafine hydrochloride, tolnaftate, and miconazole entrapped in liposomes have indicated improved skin penetration and localizing effects. According to the literature review summarized in this paper, many studies have identified liposomes as a powerful carrier for topical antifungal drug delivery to the skin. However, a few studies introduced new generations of liposomes like ethosomes and transfersomes. This paper was conducted on almost all liposomal studies of antifungal drugs with dermal application.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 1","pages":"71-78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8443872/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39440667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Molecular identification and antifungal susceptibility testing of <i>Candida</i> species isolated from oral lesions in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy.","authors":"Firoozeh Kermani, Mohaddese Sadeghian, Tahereh Shokohi, Seyedebrahim Hashemi, Dariush Moslemi, Saeed Davodian, Mahdi Abastabar, Zainab Bandalizadeh, Leyla Faeli, Zahra Seifi, Mahmoud Fami Zaghrami, Iman Haghani","doi":"10.18502/cmm.7.1.6242","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18502/cmm.7.1.6242","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and purpose: </strong>Radiation therapy in patients with head and neck malignancies predisposes them to oral <i>Candida</i> colonization and infection due to damage of oral mucosa and destruction of the salivary gland. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing radiotherapy (RT), identify the yeasts isolated from them, and determine their antifungal susceptibility.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>This cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2018 to June 2019 at two referral radiotherapy centers in northern Iran. Yeast strains that were isolated from patients with HNC were identified using conventional and molecular methods. The <i>in vitro</i> activities of eight common antifungal drugs against 55 isolates were investigated according to the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (M27-A3 and M27-S4) broth microdilution document.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among 59 patients receiving RT, the prevalence of OPC was 21 (35.59%) and 15 (25.42%) patients were diagnosed with colonization. The mean age of the patients was 55.32±13.3 years (within the range of 27-87 years). In this study, the pseudomembranous form was reported as the most clinical type of OPC. <i>Candida albicans</i> with the frequency of 60% was the most common type of <i>Candida</i> spp. that was observed in this study, although non-<i>albicans</i> <i>Candida</i> spp., such as <i>C. glabrata</i> (27.27%), <i>C. tropicalis</i> (5.45%), <i>C. parapsilosis</i> (3.63%), <i>C. krusei</i> (1.83%), and <i>C. kefyr</i> (1.83%) were also isolated. Considering the low minimum inhibitory concentration range of amphotericin B, compared to fluconazole, administration of this agent is a more suitable antifungal drug for extensive oral candidiasis in these patients. Among azoles, clotrimazole had low efficacy and several studied isolates (65.5%) showed resistance.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Correct diagnosis as well as determining drug sensitivity and risk factors are the effective steps in reducing the complications related to oral candidiasis in people undergoing RT.</p>","PeriodicalId":10863,"journal":{"name":"Current Medical Mycology","volume":"7 1","pages":"44-50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8443873/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39439729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}